From press reports

In its fifth and final award announcement of 2006, the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission recently named 25 individuals from throughout the United States and Canada as recipient of the Carnegie Medal including one from Starkville.

The medal is given to those who risk their lives to an extraordinary degree while saving or attempting to save the lives of others.

The heroes announced December 21 bring to 92 the number of individuals who have been recognized in 2006 and to 9,053 the total number of awards made since the Pittsburgh-based Fund's inception in 1904. Commission President Mark Laskow stated that each of the awardees will receive a grant of $5,000. Throughout the 102 years since the Fund was established by industrialist-philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, $29.1 million has been give in one-time grants, scholarship aid, death benefits, and continuing assistance.

Michael S. Rucinski of Starkville, Miss., was awarded for his rescue of three Winston Countians.

Michael S. Rucinski saved Landon, Garrett, and Shari Hoffman from drowning in Brooksville, Mississippi, March 13, 2006. Brothers Landon, 10, and Garrett, 12, fell from a spillway at Bluff Lake into the 53-degree water of a drainage pool and were carried by the swift current out into the deep pool. Their mother, Hoffman, 41, who was fishing from the bank, entered the water for them, as they could not swim from the current. Fishing from the opposite bank, Rucinski, 35, maintenance employee, immediately ran around the pool to the nearer side. Removing his shoes, he dived into the water and swam about 45 feet to Landon, who was in water about 27 feet deep. He took Landon back to the bank, then saw that Hoffman was having difficulty with Garrett. Rucinski entered the pool again and swam out to them. Securing a hold on the boy, he took Garrett to the bank. Rucinski re-entered the pool again when he saw that Hoffman, who was nearly exhausted from the cold, was having difficulty. He helped her to shallow water, from which both left to safety.