Annual banquet and awards ceremony celebrates first responders

BY MICHELLE KEY PUBLISHER

OPELIKA — The 2025 Valor Public Safety Awards were presented Monday night during a dinner honoring the area’s first responders. During the event, presented by the Opelika Chamber of Commerce, the Tunnel to Towers Never Forget 9/11 Mobile Exhibit museum curators — John Buckner, Herb Penner, Tony Tomesheski, Douglas Adams, Steve Spellman, William Puckett and Matthew Crowley participated in a fireside chat, answering questions from the audience. The men, now all retired members of the FDNY, were on active duty the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. All seven worked at “Ground Zero” in the days and weeks that followed. They now travel as volunteer narrators in the exhibit, sharing their memories of that day as w

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