GDOLs Ricky Lanham and Richard Murphy receive veteran awards

PHOTO: DVOP Rick Lanham (from left), GDOL District II Director Jerry
Garland, and LVER Richard Murphy display veterans' awards won by the
Cartersville Career Center in statewide competition.

Media release: Two veterans' representatives in the Georgia Department of
Labor's Cartersville Career Center have won top statewide honors for
stand-out employment-related services to veterans in Bartow and Paulding
counties.

Ricky Lanham, a native of Bartow County, was named Disabled Veteran Outreach
Program (DVOP) representative of the year for mid-sized (Class II) labor
department offices throughout the state. And, Richard Murphy, a native of
Columbus, was named the most outstanding Local Veterans Employment
Representative (LVER) for Class II career centers in the state.

The awards are given annually to the labor department's veterans'
representatives who provide the most stand-out services to veterans in their
area. The awards were given recently at the Georgia Department of Labor's
annual Veterans Conference in Savannah.

Among the services provided by the labor department to veterans are
individual case management, vocational guidance, labor market information,
job development, and referral to supportive services.

A 1977 graduate of Cass High School in Cassville, Lanham holds a bachelor of
science in criminal justice from the U.S. Army. He served 20 years in the
U.S. Army from 1979-1999, retiring as a First Sergeant. He has served as a
DVOP in the Cartersville Career Center since 2004.

In 2007 and 2011, Lanham was named the DVOP of the year by the Georgia
Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) for his stand-out service to veterans. And,
he has been awarded a Certificate of Appreciation from the American Legion
for similar activity.

Murphy is a graduate of Spencer High School in Columbus and holds a bachelor's
degree in sociology from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. He
served in the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division during the Vietnam War and
received the Bronze Star, the fourth-highest combat award of the U.S. Armed
Forces. He has been an LVER in the Cartersville Career Center for the past
two years, and is a member of American Legion Post No. 296 in Marietta.