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| Dr. Patrick Brooks-Rick Balsey- Sheriff Doug Rader |
A man from Lampe who
held two teenagers at gunpoint when he noticed something "wasn't
right" at his neighbors' house in late January was honored on Monday as
the 2013 Missouri Sheriffs' Association Citizen of the Year.
Stone County Sheriff
Doug Rader told sheriff's attending the gathering in Springfield that when Rick
and Connie Balsley saw Christopher Allen and
Anthony Zarro
loading things from Paul and Susan Brookses lakefront home into the elderly
couples car they called 911.
When Balsley
confronted the boys, they ran through the house before he was able to apprehend
them on the side of the house. Balsley held the two teens, who had run
away from the Lives Under Construction Boys Ranch, with a pellet gun until
sheriff's deputies arrived.
“During all the
turmoil, an unselfish neighbor did what he thought was right,” Stone County
Sheriff Doug Rader said, “protecting his neighbors’ properties, not knowing
what he was dealing with.”
Balsley, who said
very little when he accepted the award, turned the table on those who bestowed
the highest award the association awards a civilian. “I’m just a good
neighbor,” he said. “You guys are the ones that are heroes. I’m the one that
should be thanking all of you.”
“There’s not enough
words to thank somebody for doing what Rick did,” said the victims' son Dr.
Patrick Brooks. “There’s a lot of evil in the world, but there’s a lot of good
in the world too.”
Brooks said he
believed Allen and Zarro would have caused other families untold grief if
Balsley had not been an alert neighbor. "Thank you for being my
parents' friend," he said. “You saved part of my life too,
because I wouldn’t be able to go on if they were still out there.”
Allen and Zarro, 15 and
16 at the time of the murders are facing first-degree murder charges and have
been certified to stand trial as adults. Zarro's trial has been moved to
Newton County on a change of venue. It is expected that Allen's will as
well at a hearing in Stone County circuit court next week.
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