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National Night Out builds community

Wed, 10/12/2022 - 12:00 pm

Law enforcement tends to get a bad rap, people thinking they’re are only there when they are in trouble.

From the looks of Jacksboro Police Chief Scott Haynes, who was receiving a number of hugs from little children and young adults Oct. 4, that attitude may be changing.

A number of adults and kids alike came out for the annual National Night Out at Jacksboro Middle School, Haynes and many of his officers along with Jack County Sheriff’s Office personnel, Jacksboro Fire Department, Faith Community Hospital EMS and others were on hand to meet with the public and show them their vehicles, many of which had the kids enthralled.

Jacksboro firefighter Jack Mathis let children in the inside of one of the fire trucks and let the little ones walk around in the back. One young man told his mom “I want to be a firefighter” upon leaving.

Many little future law enforcement personnel walked around with cute plastic helmets, saluting the adults they emulated.

To make the evening even more special, a number of groups and organizations, such as Jack County STOMP, and Faith Community Hospital gave out pamphlets and brochures along with the ever popular reusable bag.

Still other groups provided face painting to the delight of Steve Montoya, who was painted like Captain America. Montoya told family members he was, in fact, Captain America and would be wearing his face paint to bed.

Still others liked the food, Fire department members grilled up several hundred hot dogs with chips and drinks as well.

As a treat, First Baptist Church offered free snow cones on a warm Fall evening which kids of all ages took advantage of.

“Don’t judge me,” Katee Serra said with a laugh. “I’m just a big kid at heart.”

Still, the main point of Tuesday night was to build bonds and relationships between law enforcement and the community. Hopefully those bonds will not be broken and people will realize that law enforcement and first responders are only there to help in the event of a bad situation.