Sometimes the police protective blue shield is invisible- until they are needed yet they are the dam holding back a sometime flood of lawlessness, and National Night Out is a great opportunity for residents across America to get better acquainted with their police department.
National Night Out was introduced in August of 1984 through an established network of law enforcement agencies and civic groups, across the U.S. The inaugural event saw 2.5 million connect across 400 communities in 23 states. It soon grew to a celebration beyond front porch vigil, as neighborhoods across the country hosted annual gatherings with visits from emergency and health agencies and other first responders.
Hosting agency, Lakeport Police Department, served as master of ceremonies. Chief of Police Brad Rasmussen held forth from the gazebo at Library Park, where raffle prizes were disbursed throughout the night. “The point of this is building relationships with the community,” Rasmussen said. “The better our relationships are, the better we can work together with the community to keep our community safe.
Although safety was the theme, the event focused on children. One of the dozens of partner agencies was the Lake County Child Welfare RFA (Resource Family Approval). Kasey Blue, is a social Worker III working their kiosk tent with partners to recruit foster parents. She explained there are 100 foster children in Lake County now, but that has been the smallest number in a decade. “Usually, it is neglect or abuse that cause kids to leave their (birth) parents,” she said. But we try to persuade parents to accept our referrals for services such as parenting classes, substance abuse and mental health services to improve the home environment.”
Carrie Bridges, Child Welfare Servics supervisor of investigations noted connecting children with foster parents are a last resort. “But I’d say a majority of parents welcome our services so they can continue to care for their own children, she said. “Over the last five years we’ve done more preventative work (and kept families united) instead of placing children out of home. But our motto is, we believe people can grow and change, that’s what keeps us going.”
The Lake County Office of Education’s Healthy Start feature a stark reminder of the risks of tobacco use with a bold display of healthy gums and teeth contrasted to a smoker’s, which had been damaged by cancer and emphysema. One young student, Maya Romero, practiced brushing technique sing an oversized toothbrush on the healthy gums model. Her mother, Lucia Chavez, said Maya, 7, was looking forward to getting her face painted. “I’m a stay-at-home mom and I’m having a good time today. If they’re (children) happy then I’m happy,” she said.
Ana Santana, Healthy Start program manager was handing out toothbrushes and toothpaste. She cautioned to her booth visitors if they smoke, a person harms their lungs, their mouth and teeth. She showed off the giant cigarette (model, very scary) packed with multiple harmful ingredients including arsenic, benzene, ammonia and carbon monoxide among others.
“E-cigarettes and vaping are even more dangerous because it has concentrated amounts of nicotine, or the triple threat: nicotine, alcohol and cannabis oil,” she said. “Can you imagine a middle school getting a hold of something like that? There’s an epidemic of 4th, 5th and 6th grade students beginning to smoke. And they now put flavors in the mix: cinnamon, bubblegum, cotton candy and grape.”
Santana added children are also lured with vape devises that are shaped like lip gloss applicators or highlighter markers to make them more attractive. “It’s not at all cool,” she said. “Why would young people want to hurt their bodies? It’s just yucky.”
Assisting at the Lakeport Main Street Association tent was Kelly Anderegg. “This is a tradition for National Night Out and I’m here because I want our kids to have a safe place to live,” she said. She was also distributing various ribbon, decals and gift wrapping for children to decorate bicycles for the Bike Parade that provided ‘goody bags’ for the best customized design.
Karma Lopez, 13 a student at Lakeport Alternative school, diligently decorated her bike she called, space bike 2.0 with suggestions from her mother, Karma (big Karma) Matheson. Little Karma (daughter) said, “I like creating things that are adorable.” For all her attention to detail, Karma’s efforts paid off as she won first place in the decoration competition. “It was the first time I’ve won first prize,” she gleefully recalled.
Chief Rasmussen gave kudos to the numerous vendors and donors. “We loved seeing you here tonight, ” he said. “Thank you for your support, because we couldn’t have done it without all our sponsors.”
