"United We Stand, Together We Walk"

by Jack Bradley, Mayor of Lorain

Elmer Schneider was the oldest living, retired Lorain Police Officer in the city of Lorain until his passing on July 3, 2020. I want to thank and honor him for his dedicated service to all of us for 28 years in the department. I also want to thank our current police officers for the dedicated service they have given to us.

During this coronavirus, they have been out there protecting us, ensuring we are safe and making sure our laws are enforced. Also, our police officers helped in the recent marches in the last several weeks. Officers were out there, ensuring that the marches were peaceful and also participating themselves. I especially want to recognize Lorain Police Chief Jim McCann, Captain Ed Super, and Lieutenant Dan Reinhardt. Together, they organized and made sure that everything ran smoothly. I appreciate their help, hard work, and the hard work of all of our police officers that were out there to make sure that these marches were successful.

I want you to know that the police officers in Lorain are good and are intelligent individuals. Lieutenant Reinhardt has his doctorate. Many police officers on the police force have master's degrees, and many have college degrees. So, they are not just good, trained police officers, but they are also intelligent, and they are out there to ensure our rights are protected and that victims are protected. I want to thank them for what they do for us and all the hard work they do for our community.

I want to thank them for doing that. I know there are some bad apples in police departments across the country, but I don't think those bad apples should label our officers. We have to look at our own police officers and be proud that we have such a fine force here in the city of Lorain. If you see a police officer, thank him or her for the excellent service that they give to us.

Chief McCann was asked to be present at the second march - as a member of the community and a supporter. This presence sets an example for the entire nation, and this means something to all of us for our city to be recognized as an example in the whole United States. Again, I want to emphasize how proud we are of you and how proud we are of our entire Lorain police force.

I also have a new Safety Service Director. His name is Sanford Washington. He's onboard, he's doing a good job, and I think he will be an excellent addition to the city administration here at City Hall. He joined the city in the peaceful march that took place on May 31 - one day early of his first official day, June 1.

The march started at Lorain Plaza and ended at Lighthouse Village. It was a very positive march. We showed our support for the marchers throughout this country, who are upset with what happened in Minneapolis. There is no excuse for a police officer to use any force that causes the death of a person. Our police officers here in Lorain have been training, talking, and trying to develop techniques that protect our citizens, not hurt our citizens.

I will participate in future marches, as will other faith leaders and community leaders, to show our support and make sure that our community stays safe.

On another note, we have banners that are throughout the city of Lorain honoring high school graduates. If you get a chance, take a ride down Grove Avenue, up 28th Street, down Broadway, and West Erie, and look at those banners for all the seniors that we are honoring this year. They were not able to go through a graduation ceremony as normal, and we wanted to honor them in some way.

This whole program of banners was the idea of Councilman Rey Carrion and other people that donated to make this possible. Donors include the Lorain Surgery Center and Dr. Shah with Mercy Hospital. Meijer's in Lorain also gave a significant amount of money to make this possible, as well as attorney Anthony Giardini and others who donated money and time, and our city workers who helped hang the banners to make this a possible honor to our seniors.

Look at the diversity of all of the students we had at Lorain High School that graduated. Lorain is The International City. Lorain is a melting pot, and we can be proud of all of our seniors, just like we are of the rest of our community.