USDA recognized six of its employees as “unsung heroes” during its recent observance of Public Service Recognition Week.

According to Otis Thompson, executive director of the Organization of Professional Employees, U.S. Department of Agriculture (OPEDA) and retired USDA public affairs specialist, the purpose of the “unsung hero” designation is to identify those employees who have been “unusually dedicated and efficient and had a positive attitude.”

He noted that nominees as “unsung heroes” are based on actual “hands-on” activities rather than on supervisory or managerial efforts. “However,” he added, “all USDA employees were eligible to be nominated.”

The idea for an “unsung heroes” contest was developed in late 1987 by a group of six representatives of professional organizations in the Department. In addition to OPEDA, current sponsoring groups include the Association of Technical & Supervisory Professionals, USDA’s Employee Services & Recreation Association, the National Association of Federal Veterinarians, and the USDA Chapter of the Senior Executive Association.

This is the 13^th year of the contest, which was conducted USDA-wide. Thompson said that following a Departmentwide solicitation, 25 employees were nominated, either by fellow USDA employees or by customers of USDA programs and services. The final selection was made in April by a team of USDA officials.

USDA’s “unsung heroes” for 2000 include:

(1) Dennis Carroll, a writer-editor in the Office of Communications in Washington, DC, who, through his writing and editing skills and steadiness under deadline pressure, has provided quality control for a myriad of USDA publications each year, thereby helping to ensure that those USDA publications are appealing, highly credible, and user-friendly materials that readers can explore to enhance their lives.

(2) Sandra Frazier, a contract specialist with the Agricultural Research Service in Beltsville, Md., who negotiated a delivery order under an energy-savings contract on behalf of ARS’s National Animal Disease Center in Ames, Iowa for the installation of energy-efficient upgrades to that facility, thereby affording ARS significant savings in energy usage and costs over the next 18 years. Also recognized were ARS center engineer Dennis Jones in Ames and ARS staff engineer Rommey Ignacio in Beltsville for their work on the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Savings Performance Contract.

(3) Karen Hauck, a program assistant with the Foreign Agricultural Service in Washington, DC, who has worked as a volunteer sign language interpreter--coordinated by the Interpreting Services Office in the Office of Operations--at meetings and public events at the Department for the past two years, leads study groups of sign language interpreters as they prepare for national examinations administered by the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, and has served as an officer in the Association for Persons with Disabilities in Agriculture (APDA).

(4) Linda Hays, a tobacco inspector with the Agricultural Marketing Service in Raleigh, N.C., who graded tobacco, probed tobacco leaves with a moisture checker, and stamped inspection certificates on over 50 percent of the total amount of tobacco on the Tazewell, Tenn., tobacco market during this past burley tobacco season, thereby greatly advancing the completion of the tobacco inspection cycle.

(5) Don Koch, a program specialist with the Food and Nutrition Service in Chicago, who was the primary designer, developer, documenter, and/or troubleshooter for two computer systems for FNS’s Food Distribution Programs. One system allows USDA employees to more cost-effectively acquire, distribute, and manage food commodities that USDA donates to its domestic feeding programs. The second system now allows state distributing agencies to interface with the first system to order food commodities directly, thereby reducing paperwork. This second computer system is currently being used in almost every state in the union.

(6) Judy Weese, a program management assistant with the Natural Resources Conservation Service in Creston, Iowa where, working for the seven-county Southern Iowa Resource Conservation and Development Area in Creston, she applied her accounting and management skills for eight years in support of Iowa’s now-completed Three Mile Lake project. It now serves as the primary water supply for the seven-county regional rural water system--and now also offers potable water to both urban and rural residents in the entire seven county area.