I’ve been informed of some very sad news this morning.  The City of Decatur’s well-loved PALS Supervisor Alma Fleetwood died last night due to a respiratory illness.

Back in 2005, Ms. Fleetwood received the City of Decatur’s Thomas O. Davis Public Servant award for her service to the community.  Though a few years old, the award write-up provides an excellent description of Ms. Fleetwood’s deep and continued involvement in the Decatur community.  She will be sorely missed by many, many people.

The Decatur Business Association presented the fifth annual Thomas O. Davis Public Servant award to Alma Fleetwood. Alma has been employed by the City of Decatur since April 1997 – first as a school crossing guard, later as a parking attendant and currently as the PALS supervisor.

Alma serves as a good role model to her staff. She is quick to identify problems and issues and offer suggestions and solutions. In a difficult job, she maintains her composure and uses her communication skills to positively resolve problems. She is eager to learn and is currently enrolled in the University of Georgia Management Development Program.

A resident of Decatur, Alma has volunteered at College Heights Elementary School, has served as a block captain and as president of the College Heights Neighborhood Association. She currently serves on the board of the South Decatur Community Development Corporation and she regularly assists with a number of community special events, including the Arts Festival, the Beach Party, the Oakhurst Arts and Music Festival and many others. She is enthusiastic in her support of the community and can be relied upon to take a leadership role.

Alma is a dedicated mother and grandmother. Her family is important to her and she can be counted on to be supportive – whether it’s attending a Decatur High football game or driving across the state for a cheerleading competition.

Photo: Alma Fleetwood (right), City Manager Peggy Merris (center), then-DBA President Frank Cavalii (left)

Sometimes it seems like negative news dominates these pages.  So there’s nothing like a positive story to serve as a little tonic for the “All News is Negative” blues.

A Heliotrope employee told this story in a comment yesterday.

Good News Story of the Day

A customer, who had come into Heliotrope with her baby to shop, made her purchase and proceeded to her car parked across WePo in front of the CVS. She sat her bag on the sidewalk while she got her child seated for the ride home. Upon arriving home, she realized what she had done.

Meanwhile, one of Decatur’s great PALS, Jonathan Scheffel, while making his appointed rounds, noticed the bag in front of CVS with no car in that spot, saw the Heliotrope logo and dutifully took it to the store.

The customer made her way back to CVS to find the bag gone. She decided to take a wild chance (knowing that her goods had been lost) and came in the store. When she heard me call out that I was so happy she had come back, here are your things, she became visibly emotional, with me soon to follow, and said her faith in the inherent goodness of people had been fully restored. (She asked her girl, “What were we looking for?” “Bag,” she replied and pointed to the counter.)

Jonathan Scheffel – Today’s Decatur Hometown Hero!

Every news junkie,myself included, should remember that for every frightening crime or misdemeanor, there are perhaps hundreds of random acts of kindness that go unreported every day.

Look at this one story as the ambassador for hundreds of thousands of others.  Or even better, add your own “kind act” story below.