Felons Hit the Road--on the Right Side of the Sirens

Some of the first people on the scene of an auto accident or any medical emergency around Vienna, Ill., are convicted felons. And that’s just the way officials want it, because some of the emergency medical technicians on Johnson County ambulances are inmates from Vienna Correctional Center, a minimum-security prison in southern Illinois. The state started the program in the mid-1970s because the county couldn’t afford to run an ambulance service, said Warden Larry Mizell. The inmates earn about $40 a month on the job, Mizell said. “I would like to say, the (medics) in the program have made a commitment to change our lives around, and to take that something positive and use it,” said 37-year-old Virgil Hooper, who has 15 months left to serve of a 10-year sentence for home invasion. The prisoner medics’ behavior has been generally good, Mizell said, although about a month ago, three of them were implicated in a drug case, which is pending. There are “mixed emotions” about the program, said bank executive Tom Jones, but he added: “If it got down to a life-or-death situation, I don’t care who is trying to save my life, as long as they’re qualified.”

--Maine Gov. John R. McKernan Jr.’s mail on Monday contained a letter that was sent 5 1/2 months ago. Even so, McKernan was pleased with the very special delivery of the missive from Georgia Gov. Joe Frank Harris. The letter, in a waterproof envelope, had been carried 2,100 miles through rain, wind and cold over the Appalachian Trail by hiker Daniel Wingfoot as a 50th anniversary salute to the trail’s completion. McKernan accepted the letter in Augusta and handed Wingfoot his own salute to the trail for delivery to Harris. But Wingfoot, 40, an engineer from Conyers, Ga., said he won’t be walking McKernan’s letter back. “I feel tired physically,” he said, “but I’m exhilarated by the success of the expedition.” Wingfoot said he prefers his trail name to his real name, Dan Bruce.

--Edmund Dabrowski lost the annual East Lyme, Conn., Marathon Race, but he ran away with his girlfriend’s heart. At the seven-mile mark in the race, Dabrowski, 26, ran over to Patricia Goggins, who was standing on Lovers Lane. Dabrowski asked her to marry him, handed her a ring and said he would await her answer at the finish line. Nineteen miles later, Dabrowski neared the finish well behind the leading runners. Then, over the public address system, he heard the words that made him a winner: “Trish says yes.”