NNO events scheduled for Oct. 2

As National Night Out celebrates 35 years of annual celebrations, lets take a trip down memory lane to the beginning, back to 1981. This was the year the Nation Association of Town Watch (NATW) was founded to connect community watch programs across the nation. A primary goal of NATW was to provide the watch programs with the tools and resources needed to make a difference in their communities and neighborhoods.

National Night Out was officially introduced by NATW in 1984 as a night where community members and local law enforcement officers could forge a positive bond, hold a meet and greet and discuss community safety concerns, all while celebrating the neighborhood they live in. The first ever NNO event was celebrated across 23 states in over 400 communities with approximately 2.5 million citizens in attendance.

Although NNO was officially celebrated throughout the nation on Aug. 7, the state of Texas and several other cities in the Southeast, will celebrate the event on Oct. 2 to avoid the brutal heat in early August.

Rusk and Jacksonville will be among the Texas cities celebrating NNO on Oct. 2.

The Rusk Police Department won the NATW’s Rookie of the Year award after hosting their first NNO event in 2017.
“Last year’s event was very successful,” Rusk Police Association President and RPD Sgt. Nathan Acker said. “And of course, we’re hoping to be able to build on that and make this year’s National Night Out even better.”

“Last year, by my count we had 800 or more participate – that’s 20 percent of our population, well, the ones that are allowed to walk around free anyway,” Williams joked. “That a very significant number to have come out and we’re very proud to have made connections with that many in our community.”

Rusk’s NNO second annual event will be held at 6 p.m. Oct. 2 on the Square in downtown Rusk. Some features of the RPD’s NNO event this year include bicycle giveaways; new commemorative merchandise for sale; and lots more attractions.
“We’re going to lock down the square from 6 to 8 p.m. that night and invite everyone in the community to come out and enjoy the event,” Rusk Police Chief Joe Williams said during Thursday’s council meeting. “This year we’re planning to make it bigger and better.”

“This year we’ll be competing with other cities that are similar in size, but whatever happens, we already know we’re absolutely going to beat Jacksonville PD,” Williams said with a wink.

Sponsors already signed up for Rusk’s NNO event include Whataburger-Rusk, Citizen’s 1st Bank-Rusk, Brookshire Brothers, Jeannie Swink, Harry’s Building Material, Texas National Bank-Rusk, First United Methodist Church-Rusk, the Rusk Police Association, JP Auto and Austin Bank-Rusk.

Our sponsors and donations have just been tremendous,” Williams said. “We truly appreciate all the support from our community.”

Williams also put out a request for assistance at one of the event’s attractions.

“I’m told the dunking booth is returning again this year,” he reported. “Last year, me and Earl Dominy spent the most time in it and after a while it gets pretty tiring, so I’m asking for any volunteers from the Council to help man the booth this year.”

Mayor Angela Raiborn was quick to say, with a laugh, “I nominate Jan,” to the amusement of those attending the Sept. 20 Rusk City Council meeting.

Pate laughed, too, and joked, “They’d make a lot of money on it then, wouldn’t they?”

In 2017, Jacksonville Police Department ranked 18th of the 31 best events held in cities with populations of 5,000 to 15,000 across the state.

This year, JPD will host their NNO events at Sweet Union Baptist Church, located at 302 N. Main Street, Jacksonville from 5:30-p p.m. and at Father’s Love Ministry located at 402 S. Bolton St., Jacksonville from 6-9 p.m. Featured attractions at Jacksonville’s NNO events include cook-outs, a petting zoo, bounce houses, a basketball skills challenge and more. Sponsors of Jacksonville’s NNO include Boogie Butt Productions, Sweet Union Baptist Church-Jacksonville, Whataburger-Jacksonville, Super Gallo grocery store, the Jacksonville Citizens Police Academy, Austin Bank-Jacksonville and Father’s Love.