Badges from Pingree Grove's past found in jewelry box

A pair of old badges that had been tucked away in a Pingree Grove jewelry box for at least 30 years resurfaced recently.

Ed Radloff, village president for two terms in the 1970s, discovered them at home six months ago while he was going through some old things. One's a police badge and the other is one that the village president used to wear.

And because he's got deep respect for the sitting Village President Clint Carey and police Chief Carol Lussky, he thought that they should have them, both as symbols of his gratitude and of the town's progress.

And when he's got high esteem for certain people, he gives them gifts, he said.

"I figured it would be a nice token of a new era for the village," said Radloff, 77. "It's passing on from the old to the new, you know?"

Radloff can't remember how he got the badges, but estimates that they're between 40 and 50 years old.

The police badge likely belonged to a member of a small patrol the village ran in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Lussky said.

Carey and Lussky say they were surprised such items even existed and are honored Radloff passed them down.

"It was definitely a sense of honor to be holding it," Carey said. "It's just so cool."

Lussky agreed.

"When he presented it to me, I was like, 'Holy cow.' "

For now, Carey's holding onto the badges for safekeeping.

He intends to put them on display at the new village police station under construction.

Lussky hopes Radloff's donation serves as a catalyst for others to find old relics that tell the story of Pingree Grove, and that one of them will help officials figure out where the badges came from, she said.