Teacher picks up city’s pride award

Hyun James Kim / Special to the Home News

Dee Lyon holds the Community Pride Award she received from Henderson Mayor James B. Gibson, center, ad City Council members from left, Jack Clark, Steve Kirk, Gerri Schroder and Andy Hafen.

By Jeremy Twitchell

Thursday, Nov. 20, 2008 | midnight

• Committee voluntarily cits budget (11-20-2008)

On most mornings, Dee Lyon leaves her home at 4:30 a.m. for a three-mile walk. While she's out, she picks up as much trash as she can handle before heading into her job as a special needs teacher.

To her, it was the natural thing to do. To Henderson city officials, it's a habit worthy of praise.

Lyon became the first recipient of the city's Community Pride Award in a year Tuesday, honored for her small but steady contribution to keeping Henderson clean.

"I'm just kind of embarrassed," Lyon said. "I don't think I did anything special. … It's an honor, but I just think that this is something that everybody should be doing. I guess there's just people who aren't."

The Community Pride Award depends on nominations from residents, and a year's drought of acceptable nominations have kept the certificates on the shelf for some time. So when the nomination letter for Lyon reached the city, members of the Commemorative Beautification Commission — the citizens group that hands out the Community Pride Award — jumped at the opportunity.

Shannon Dayton, a neighbor of Lyon's who frequently sees her in action while on morning jogs, wrote the nomination.

"As a runner, I have seen my share of garbage on the sidewalks and have been disgusted not so much at the nasty trash but at the disrespect of those who leave it on public property," Dayton wrote. "But I am inspired by people like Dee, who walk the streets of Henderson day after day, carefully picking up what so many carelessly throw out."

Lyon said she began with picking up recyclable materials to benefit her school's recycling fundraiser and has added other tasks along the way.

"I started out just picking up aluminum cans, then I branched out and started picking up bottles," she said. "And if I see trash and I'm near a trash can, I'll pick it up and put it in."

Jeremy Twitchell can be reached at 990-8928 or jeremy.twitchell@hbcpub.com.