County Leaders to Honor Poway Businessman

Seven people will be honored Thursday at the 21st annual Salute to Local Heroes Luncheon, which recognizes average citizens who bravely assisted law enforcement, according to the Rotary Club of San Diego, the event's sponsor.

Awards will be presented by San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis, Sheriff William Gore, San Diego police Chief Bill Lansdowne, and El Cajon police Chief Jim Redman.

Honorees are:

-- Poway business owner Dennis Baros for helping investigators locate individuals responsible for a string of thefts, including the theft of Baros' own computer. Baros used a computer program installed on his computer to observe the thieves remotely and report back to investigators;

-- David and Rebecca Bayliss, and Naomi Himmelberger for coming to the aid of San Diego police Officer Jeremy Henwood when he was shot and killed in August by a man, who later took his own life;

-- Scott Baird, a photojournalist for San Diego 6 News who called police when he saw a stolen vehicle that was part of a crime in progress. The call led to the capture of a man who had just attacked a passenger on the San Diego Trolley and a 75-year-old man on the street;

-- Sandy Gonzalez, a teenage victim who fought off an attacker who groped and stabber her after she got off a bus. She ran to safety and flagged down a police officer, then later testified against her attacker in court; and

-- Dave Lembcke for stepping into the line of fire to help drag wounded El Cajon police Officer Jared Slocum to safety last August. Slocum was wounded in a shootout with a suicidal man who had killed his daughter and mother-in-law prior to turning his weapon on himself.

-City News Service