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| National Night Out Celebrates Neighborhood Safety |
Communities across the nation as well as locally celebrated keeping their neighborhood safe from crime in the 26th Annual National Night Out.
A number of neighbors gathered at Foursquare Gospel Church at 289 S. Pearl in Galesburg to celebrate their neighborhood watch program and to talk about how they can keep their blocks free of crime.
One of the attendees of this block party, and a homeowner on south Pearl Street, Dawn Harrison, says she saw, what she said was, a lot of drug activity and other crime that wasn't good for the neighborhood when she purchased a property a year ago. She then gathered a number of community officials to set up the neighborhood watch program.
Harrison tells WGIL the parties and meetings are set up for people in that neighborhood to meet and speak with those nearby.
"The most important aspect of it is getting the neighbors to know each other and talk to each other which is what they are all doing now. They can go talk to each other and share what is going on and get together to do things like this and then they know each other so they can wave to each other. You know, if you know somebody, your more apt to care about them and look out for them, and so just getting the neighbors to talk to each other is the biggest benefit of this whole thing."
The block party at the gospel church also featured some employees from the Target store in Galesburg who were going around to all the local neighborhood watch parties last night to help and show their support for the community painting faces of children and playing games.
Galesburg Police Chief David Christensen, Neighborhood Watch Coordinator Sergeant James Bradford, and other Galesburg officers were on hand to speak with the residents. Bradford said this shows the residents are actively involved and actively concerned with their neighborhood.
(A sign welcomes those to the Neighborhood Watch Party as part of the 26th Annual Night Out. This event at the Foursquare Gospel Church was just one of many of the parties held locally Tuesday night)
(Target volunteers from the Galesburg store enjoy face painting and games with kids at the Foursquare Gospel Church in Galesburg Tuesday evening)
(Neighborhood Watch Coordinator Sgt. James Bradford and Chief David Christenson were among those who attended a neighborhood watch party at the Foursquare Gospel Church as part of the 26th Annual National Night Out)
(Kids play games during the 26th Annual National Night Out block party, one of which took place at the Foursquare Gospel Church in Galesburg)
(A woman and young girl blow bubbles during Tuesday night's 26th Annual National Night Out block party at the Foursquare Gospel Church)
(WGIL News Story and Photos by Dominic Fortini.) |
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| 08 04 09 by Newsroom |
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