Published: Sunday, August 5, 2007
Valley fights crime with a Night Out
New Middletown's event attracts 2,000 to 3,000
people each year.
Youngstown will hold its 20th annual National Night Out event, but this will be the first time for Warren and Liberty.
The main focus of the event — which includes community picnics, parades and safety demonstrations — is to heighten crime and drug awareness, to generate support for anti-crime programs and to strengthen police-citizen relationships.
But it does so much more, local National Night Out organizers say.
"It makes people aware that if we work together we can help reduce crime," said Annie Hall, organizer of the Youngstown event and supervisor of the city block watches. "It brings the community together. When the event is over, we want people to continue to do what they can to prevent crime."
Tuesday is the official date of the annual National Night Out. The event is celebrating its 24th year nationwide.
Last year's event was held in 11,125 communities with 35.2 million participants, according to the National Association of Town Watch, which created National Night Out.
This is the 20th straight year for Youngstown.
For Warren and Liberty, this is a first. Lawrence County, Pa., also will have a Night Out.
The Liberty event includes a car show, a softball game and a concert.
Part of the goal
"This will help make people more aware of block watches and crime prevention," said June Smallwood, the township's special projects coordinator who is helping to organize Tuesday's event. "You bring the community together to make a positive impact ... It will hopefully bond the community even closer."
Warren is holding its inaugural National Night Out on Sunday.
Initially it was going to be a small block party organized by the North West Neighborhood Association, said Debbie A. Lovas, the association's coordinator and chairwoman.
"Then we thought it would be really cool to do it for the whole city," said Lovas, co-coordinator of Warren's National Night Out event.
The proposal was met with support from city officials, she said.
"Our goal is to unite our city with its residents," Lovas said.
"We want the residents to feel more comfortable with our city officials and for our city officials to be more comfortable with the residents. It shows a sense of community."
A big draw
The area's biggest National Night Out celebration in terms of turnout is typically in New Middletown, a quiet village, that attracts 2,000 to 3,000 people to its annual event.
New Middletown Police Chief William Morvay says one reason his village's crime rate is low is National Night Out.
"When you have people concerned about the neighborhood and involved in the community, then the crime rate is far less than what it would be if it was the opposite," he said.
"We have a very low crime rate, and I feel this has made a difference."
This will be the seventh National Night Out for New Middletown.
"Our intention is to get the community together and heighten awareness of crime. We want to say, 'Enough is enough.' We want a crime-free community. To do that, we need people to help their neighbors and to get to know the people in the community."
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