Dist. 121 board honors action of security guard
An Andy Frain Services security guard was honored Tuesday night for keen observation skills that led to the arrests of three teenagers who police said tried to hide a handgun at Warren Township High School in Gurnee.
Frain's Andres Cologne wasn't the only one recognized Tuesday in Lake County for good work in a dicey situation. Two sheriff's marine unit deputies and a resident were lauded at a county board meeting for helping to save a woman from drowning after a boat crash in August.
At Tuesday's Warren Township High School District 121 board meeting in Gurnee, officials commended Cologne for his work in the Sept. 13 incident. District 121 contracts with Frain for security work.
Gurnee police and school officials said the case was launched after Cologne noticed the three boys acting suspiciously as they left the bathroom in question.
Cologne quickly went inside the washroom and found a ceiling tile had been moved.
He discovered the unloaded weapon above a tile, said authorities.
O'Plaine Principal Jeffrey Brierton said Cologne's swift action and notification of his find to superiors allowed 2,100 students and staff to be "safe and sound" at the school. He said the gun easily could have gone unnoticed in the bathroom.
"There are two words that should never be used in the same sentence: school and gun," Brierton said.
Police said the three 15-year-old boys were charged, in part, because of a video camera in the hallway outside the bathroom, and information from students and school employees.
Earlier in the day, boater Jason Bathje of Spring Grove and Lake County Sheriff's Marine Unit officers Michael Rompala and Michael Shep were lauded for their efforts in saving a woman in the Aug. 15 incident on the Chain O' Lakes.
Brenda Schmid, 55, of Palatine, was trapped under a capsized boat after a crash near Dunn's Lake channel on Nippersink Lake. Bathje, with assistance from an unidentified man, jumped into the water and pulled Schmid from mud under the vessel.
Authorities said Rompala and Shep performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Schmid when Bathje brought her to them. Schmid wasn't breathing when the deputies began the CPR, but her pulse returned within five minutes.
Lake County Board members, in a resolution offered at Tuesday's meeting, praised Bathje for taking action "without hesitation or regard for his personal safety." The elected officials commended the deputies for their lifesaving measures.