Downtown Farmington 9/11 Ceremony Honors Police, Firefighters

Director Bob Schulz unveiled plans Tuesday for a planned memorial that would honor the lives of those lost in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Schulz displayed a rendering of the memorial during the 9/11 Patriot Day ceremony, held at the  in downtown Farmington. Designed by S3 Architects, the rectangular monument will incorporate a beam from one of the World Trade Center towers, which came down after planes slammed into them 11 years ago. 

"We wanted it to be something people could look at, touch ... just come and enjoy it," he said. 

The cost of the memorial is about $12,000. Anyone interested in making a donation toward the cost may contact Schulz, 248-474-4700. 

, which organized the ceremony, honored these local emergency responders:

• Sgt. Daniel Wecker, a 10-year paid on-call firefighter, has received four Life Saving awards, seven Chain of Survival awards and 15 letters of appreciation, among other honors. He thanks his family, his "brothers and sisters in service" and the community, for its support of the department in approving last fall's public safety millage. 
• Sgt. Mike Fluhart, who was promoted to his rank while flying helicopters with the Army in Iraq, has been named police officer of the year twice, received six unit citations a chief's citation and a commendation among other awards during his 22-year career. Fluhart also received the Army Medal of Honor for completing 125 successful missions. He credited his wife, Tina, with shouldering the larger burden while he served two tours of duty overseas and thanked the department and city officials for helping his family through that time.
• Farmington Public Safety Officer Patrick Spelman has citations not only from his own department, but also from Farmington Hills Police Department. Also a two-time officer of the year, Spelman made 130 arrests and began code enforcement of commercial vehicles, a first for FPS, Director Schulz said. Spelman thanked his family and paid tribute to West Bloomfield Police Officer Patrick O'Rourke, who died in the line of duty Sunday night.