Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch will present the 2008 Justice Awards to recipients in eight categories during a Celebration of Justice ceremony that will take place THIS EVENING, Thursday, Feb. 19, at 6 PM, in the third floor Conference Room of the Office of Attorney General, 150 South Main Street, Providence. The media is invited to provide coverage.

The awards, given in recognition of an extraordinary commitment to justice exhibited by members of the community, are named in honor of the eight living former Attorneys General who are Lynch’s predecessors and who have been invited to participate in the ceremony. Lynch also will honor a group from Ponaganset High School with a special Justice Award. This is the sixth year that Lynch has presented the awards.

“For many reasons and for a long stretch of time, our state’s been awash in bad news. This event is one of the very few times of the year that we can celebrate legitimately good news,” said Lynch. “I’m glad to take this opportunity to recognize people who, through their efforts on a specific project or initiative or through a career of dedicated service, have made Rhode Island a better, safer, or more just place.”

The recipients of the 2008 Justice Awards are as follows:

Felix Carlone and Edgar Ladouceur, Chairman and Vice Chairman, respectively, of the Rhode Island Contractors’ Registration and Licensing Board, will receive the General Roberts Award for Consumer Protection. George W. Whalen, Executive Director of the Rhode Island Contractors’ Registration and Licensing Board, nominated them.

Tracey Zeckhausen, Chief of Information and Public Relations for the Rhode Island Department of Corrections, will receive the General DeSimone Award for Crime Prevention. Ashbel T. Wall II, Director of the Department of Corrections, nominated her.

Donna Dulude, a Pawtucket Police Department dispatcher, and Jon Desmarais Sr., a Rhode Island E9-1-1 Telecommunicator, will be honored with the General Pine Award for Domestic Violence Prevention. Chief George Kelley III, Pawtucket Police Department, and Raymond LaBelle, RI E9-1-1 Associate Director, nominated them.

The East Providence Police Department, Bristol County (Mass.) Sheriff’s Office, and the Swansea Police Department are being honored with the General Michaelson Award for Drug Enforcement, with recognition going to Sergeant Diogo Mello and Investigators Darren Ellinwood, Christopher Francesconi, and David Silva of the East Providence Police Department, Major Nelson DeGouveia, Lieutenant Michael Nunes, and Deputy Robert Bettencourt, of the Bristol County Sheriff’s Office, and Detectives Marc Haslam and Joseph Martin of the Swansea Police Department. The nomination came from East Providence Police Department Major Donald Dubois.

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AG Lynch to honor Justice Award recipients Tonight February 19, 2009 Page 2 of 2

The General Israel Award for Environmental Protection is being awarded to Kurt Schatz, former Chief of the RI Department of Environmental Management Office of Criminal Investigation. W. Michael Sullivan, Director of the DEM, nominated Schatz.

The Computer Crimes Unit of the Rhode Island State Police, under the supervision of Sergeant John Killian, along with Rhode Island State Police Corporal Ken Bell, Detectives Staci Shepherd and John Alfred, Providence Police Detective Robert Fitzpatrick, and Detective Mark Salvas, West Warwick Police Department, will be honored with the General O’Neil Award for Law Enforcement, in the uniform category. Colonel Brendan Doherty, Superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police, nominated the Unit.

In the non-uniform category, Sylvia Bogusz of South Kingstown, RI will receive the General Violet Award for Law Enforcement. A delegation from the South Kingstown Police Department, and EMS personnel, will be in attendance to witness the presentation of the Justice Award to Ms. Bogusz. The nomination came from Rhode Island State Senator Leonidas P. Raptakis, District 33.

Jane E. Morgan, Esq., Associate Director of the Rhode Island Department of Elderly Affairs, and Mary Ladd-Iadevaia, Clinical Social Worker in the Department’s Protective Services Division, will be honored with the General Whitehouse Award for Senior Protection. The nomination came from Kathleen M. Heren, Acting Executive Director, Alliance for Better Long Term Care, and Corinne Calise Russo, Director of the Rhode Island Department of Elderly Affairs.

Attorney General Lynch also will present a special Justice Award at this evening’s ceremony in recognition of the Ponaganset High School Alternative Energy Team’s Coast to Coast Biodiesel Pickup Project. The Project’s team members are teacher Ross McCurdy and students Zane Lewis, Wylie Smith, and Seth Keighley. Attorney General Lynch nominated the Project for the award.

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