COBB COUNTY - Public safety workers will be honored Monday at an annual Cobb Chamber of Commerce breakfast. Winners of four awards - Public Safety Employee of the Year, the Award of Merit, the Medal of Valor and the Distinguished Achievement Award - will be selected from 17 nominees.

The event will kick off a weeklong appreciation for the professions.

"Public-safety personnel are critical to Cobb County being a safe place for people to live, work and play," said Dr. Lisa Rossbacher, the Chamber's chairwoman and president of Southern Polytechnic State University. "This annual event is a key opportunity for the business community to recognize the many contributions that people who work in public safety make. We get a chance to honor and thank them all."

This will be the 15th year the Chamber has dedicated its October breakfast to saluting police, fire, paramedics and other emergency workers.

About 600 people are expected to attend the breakfast, and tickets are sold out. The event begins at 7:30 a.m. Monday at the Cobb Galleria Centre.

Former Heisman Trophy winner and professional athlete Herschel Walker will be the keynote speaker at the breakfast, which is sponsored by Cobb EMC and Cousins Properties.

Throughout the next week, businesses, civic groups, schools and places of worship are encouraged to personally thank public safety personnel by delivering a basket of store-bought food to their local precinct or fire station, or by writing a thank-you note.