Published: October 05, 2008 12:22 am            

National Night Out parties set for Tuesday

PALESTINE — Start up the grill. It’s time for a 25th anniversary party.

Tuesday marks the 25th anniversary of National Night Out, the annual evening event where neighborhoods turn on their porch lights and turn out to meet and mingle with friends, neighbors, local law enforcement and elected officials in an show of force against crime.

Until this year, the National Night Out has been an August event, but national officials decided to allow Texans to mark the occasion on the first Tuesday in October when the weather usually is cooler.

From 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday, residents in neighborhoods throughout Palestine and Anderson County are asked to turn on their outside lights and spend the evening outside with neighbors, police, sheriff’s deputies, firefighters and emergency medical personnel.

Many neighborhoods throughout Palestine will be hosting a variety of special events such as block parties, cookouts and visits from emergency personnel, youth activities and anti-crime rallies.

Some of the locations hosting parties include Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3907 at 3800 W. Oak St., the United Pentecostal Church at 1400 Loop 256, the Museum for East Texas Culture at 400 Micheaux St. and the 800 block of Sylvan Avenue. Locations in the county include the Neighborhood 4-H Club at the Foster Community Center, 3219 ACR 403 and the Montalba Neighborhood Watch at the Montalba Volunteer Fire Department.

National Night Out is designed to heighten crime and drug prevention awareness; generate support for and participation in local anti-crime efforts; strengthen neighborhood spirit and police-community partnerships; and send a message to criminals, letting them know neighborhoods are organized and fighting back.

National Night Out is sponsored by the National Association of Town Watch. Locally, the event is sponsored jointly by the Palestine Police Department, Anderson County Sheriff’s Office and Palestine Regional Medical Center Emergency Medical Service, and other emergency personnel.

More than 11,000 communities across the U.S., Canada, U.S. territories and military bases take part each year, with over 34 million people expected to participate in events in August and October.

For more information, call the Palestine Police Department at 903-729-2254.

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.