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National Night Out goes local in the neighborhood
Serene Meadow Families got together with
the
great Fire Crew of
and
New
Braunfels Animal Control Officer
Andrew Sanchez
August 1st, 2006
Thank you to Billie Zercher and Carol Burd for putting it all together!
(Click the pictures above
to enlarge them)
During their visit
the company was called out for a structure fire!
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National Night
Out offers way
to meet block
Published
August 2, 2006
Aryanna and
Chris Aparicio
bounced in the
jump castle
until they could
stand no longer,
then went to the
giant inflatable
slide for a
break.
“I tried both of
them,” Aryanna
said. “It’s like
jumping real
high off a
building.”
The pair were
among some 200
residents of the
Meadows at
Morningside
subdivision
jumping into
more than just a
bounce house.
They were
building a
neighborhood and
taking part in
the 23rd annual
National Night
Out against
crime and
violence.
National Night
Out, sponsored
by the National
Association of
Town Watch, the
U.S. Department
of Justice and
the U.S.
Department of
Homeland
Security, is an
annual event
conducted each
year on the
first Tuesday of
August. Local
law enforcement
asks residents
to turn on their
porch lights,
lock their
doors, get
outside and get
to know their
neighbors.
Nationwide, 34
million people
in 10,000
communities were
expected to
participate this
year.
Meadows at
Morningside, one
of the city’s
newest
subdivisions,
recently had a
problem with
racist graffiti
scrawled on
their mailboxes,
fences and on a
couple of
outbuildings.
Farther up the
road, someone
painted
anti-Christian
expletives at a
nearby church.
But the crimes
only encouraged
many of the
neighborhood’s
residents to
turn out for the
event.
Meadows at
Morningside is
working now to
create its own
neighborhood
crime watch to
help deal with
issues such as
the graffiti. It
has a social
committee that
works to plan
gatherings and
events, and its
residents look
forward to an
increased sense
of security,
said Marie
Gabriel,
president of the
neighborhood’s
homeowners
association.
“We wanted
people to come
out and meet
each other, we
wanted to bring
them together
and the third
reason is the
New Braunfels
Police
Department is
coming out to
educate us and
get us started
with the crime
watch program,”
said Gabriel,
who has lived in
Meadows at
Morningside for
about three
years.
New Braunfels
Police Det. Lt.
Mike Rust and
Mayor Bruce
Boyer went to a
number of block
parties Tuesday
night.
Boyer said he
was pleased with
the city’s
response to
National Night
Out — there were
more than 40
block parties
around the city
Tuesday night,
and at least 20
in
unincorporated
areas of the
county, visited
by Sheriff’s
Cpl. Tim Kolbe
and other
deputies.
“When you have
this many people
involved, it
raises the
consciousness of
the whole
neighborhood and
the entire
community,”
Boyer said. “The
bad guys see
this kind of
involvement and
it makes them
think twice
before doing
anything. It
helps when
neighbors get to
know one another
and look out for
each other and I
congratulate
everyone for
doing so much to
add to the
feeling of
community in New
Braunfels.”
Rust agreed.
National Night
Out, he said, is
only
strengthened by
the work of
organizations
here such as
Crime Stoppers
and the Safe
City Commission.
A Neighborhood
Watch or crime
watch
organization is
one of the best
crime prevention
tools there is,
Rust said.
“The more people
who volunteer,
the more we get
done and the
safer our
neighborhoods
are,” he said.
“These
organizations
are an important
extra set of
eyes and ears
for the police
department.”
Aryanna and
Chris Aparicio
probably didn’t
realize that
while they
played on the
slide or bounced
in the castle,
their father,
Christopher
Aparicio Sr. was
doing something
far more
important —
getting to know
his new
neighbors; the
people who will
help make his
neighborhood
safer for his
children.
“They came to
the door this
afternoon and
asked if they
could set up on
our front lawn,”
he said. “I
said, ‘Yeah, but
let me mow the
lawn for you.”’
And he did.
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