"National Night Out" Brings Out Hundreds

More than 500 residents throughout Clayton came together for an evening of dialogue with the agencies that protect them recently, joining millions across the country in celebrating the 27th "National Night Out Against Crime."

Neighborhoods participating in the program included the Cobblestone, Wynston and Northside communities.

"Everything went very well," said Police Officer Ron Freeman, who helped organize the event. "With all the people that came out, we pretty much met our goal of heightening drug and crime prevention awareness, and it gave people a chance to spend some time getting to know their neighbors better."

Joining Officer Freeman in Night Out activities were members of the Clayton Police and Fire Departments, Clayton Rescue (EMS), Clayton Crime Stoppers as well as Town Councilmen R.S. "Butch" Lawter and Art Holder.

While the grown-ups talked about Neighborhood Watch programs and other efforts to stop crime, the youngsters got to handle law enforcement, fire and rescue equipment and pal around with McGruff the Crime Dog and Sparky the Fire Dog.

National Night Out is a national program which aims to help law enforcement agencies get to better know the people they serve, so that, working together, they can come up with better ways to help fight crime. It's sponsored by the National Association of Town Watches.

National Night Out is observed by more than 15,000 towns and communities and millions of people all across the nation, on military bases worldwide and a few towns in Canada.