Osceola County honors those making a critical—or happy—difference

The power of many … and the power of one.

Osceola County honored a group and an individual for making the community a better place to live.

The group was the Osceola County Sheriff ’s Office 911 telecommunications team, which takes emergency calls and dispatches responder units, honored as part of National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week in Osceola County, April 14-20.

“Dozens serve Osceola County every day, answering the calls, who utilize sound judgment skills and have the ability to quickly make decision during emergency calls,” Commissioner Ricky Booth said.

He noted the hours—and hours— and special training for local and state-level certification.

“They are critical to the county’s response and security, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, all the holidays,” Booth said. “They are not as visible as the men and women who arrive on the scene of an emergency. These folks provide the vital link to public safety.”

Sheriff Marcos Lopez said the dispatchers are the first ones on the scene, “Just not physically.”

“They are first on the scene, just not physically. They are talking people through difficult times— homicides, car crashes, trying to get someone to the floor to do CPR—they’re there, walking them through it prior to us arriving there. I take my hats off to them.”

The person honored with his own day—Noriss “Dog Guy” Bourne Day— was Norris Bourne, a Kissimmee resident who has come to be known as “Dog Guy” for being seen on his daily walks along Pleasant Hill Road with his dog, who each morning waves and shows a couple moments of goodwill.

Those who travel the busy road often see him, with his dog, hence the “Dog Guy” nickname, providing a friendly face to provide that traffic-riddled commute with a moment of mental escape. He’s been doing it since the late 1990s, every day, in all kinds of weather.

“We appreciate that, and today we want to honor him,” said Commissioner Brandon Arrington, whose district 3 includes that road where Bourne walks each morning, two miles from Windmill Point to one of the stores at John Young, where his canine companion gets water, and back.

The native of Trinidad and Tobago who moved to the area in 1996 began the walk when the road was two lanes and had just gotten sidewalks. He said he gets the biggest kicks waving at, and getting a response from, kids, who love to wave back at his dogs, originally a pair of Labrador retrievers. Those waves turned into honks and even lights-and-siren tributes from police and paramedics.

“I thought it was since I had two dogs, they liked the dogs and were honking at them. So I’d wave back and so many of the people I’d see were just smiling,” he said. It just kept spreading from there.

“I keep doing it because of the love I get out of it. That couple seconds of interaction, it really makes my day.”

Arrington said Bourne is a reliable staple on Pleasant Hill, in good weather, bad weather, hot weather, cold weather … “And I’m an islander, so anything under 70 (degrees) is cold to me,” he said with a laugh Monday.

Arrington said Bourne’s daily presence reminds us all of the power of simple gesture and genuine kindness.”

“I have waved at him a million times, I’ve passed by him with my dog when we lived near there,” he said. “We haven’t had a chance to chat much but he’s been a staple out there. I figured, ‘Why not?’ He’s not asking for anything, he’s out there, cruising along, bringing people a few moments of joy.”

And what did Bourne think when told of the honor?

“I was surprised,” he said. “Even though I’m out there, I’m a private person.”