Howland High graduate receives award from MADD

COLUMBUS -- Brian J. Taillon of Warren has received the "Outstanding Youth Member of the Year" award from the state chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
Taillon, 19, a 2001 graduate of Howland High School, is a business management and public relations major at Youngstown State University. He was a member of Students Against Driving Drunk for four years and served as president of the group for two years. He helped with the organization and design of two billboards that warned against the dangers of drunken driving, raising money through two SADD-sponsored middle school dances. The group also organized a mock crash and Fourth of July and Halloween advertising campaigns.
Taillon on his own was the organizer and designer of a T-shirt campaign. More than 100 faculty members wore the "Prom Promise" T-shirts the day before Howland's prom. He has also been a Drug Abuse Resistance Education role model.
He was recently sworn in by Sheriff Randall A. Wellington as an honorary deputy sheriff and has logged more than 200 hours riding in a patrol cruiser in Mahoning County. Wellington said Taillon is an outstanding young man who has done much for the community.
His father, Greg Taillon, is a deputy sheriff and school resource officer in the Jackson-Milton School District.