Cook County Sheriff’s Office to host kick-off ceremony
Once again Cook County Sheriff’s Office officials and leaders from local and federal law enforcement agencies kicked off “Leg 5” of the Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics this morning, Tuesday, June 12, 2012.
The Torch Run for Special Olympics contains 24 total ‘legs’ of the race with the Sheriff’s office being responsible for coordinating Leg 5 of the race each year. It is an annual event that takes place in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and 20 additional nations across the globe. The world-wide annual running event generates more than $3.5 million each year for Special Olympics, which enables more than one million children and adults with developmental disabilities to participate in sports activities that take place all year long. This particular run will begin Tuesday at 9am, will take 4 days to complete and will travel nearly 150 miles to Bloomington, IL; which is the site for the state Summer Special Olympics Games.
A kick-off ceremony is set for Tuesday morning, June 12th at 8:30am at the Cook County Sheriff’s Boot Camp, located at 2801 S. Rockwell Avenue. Individuals set to speak at the ceremony include Sheriff Thomas J. Dart, Illinois Supreme Court Justice Anne Burke, CEO of Special Olympics Illinois, Dave Breen and Deputy Director of the Illinois Law Enforcement Torch Run, Tom Reasoner. In attendance will be various Special Olympians, most of whom are relatives of various law enforcement officers.
After the torch is lit, it is handed off from Cook County Sheriff’s representatives to the Special Olympians who are in attendance. To begin the race, law enforcement personnel assemble and run out of the Boot Camp on a nearly 21-mile trek ending at Route 83 and Harlem Avenue in Palos Heights. Runners, who run various distances within the race, include members of the Sheriff’s Police Hostage Barricade Team, the Department of Corrections Recruit Class, Boot Camp Drill Instructors, various Cook County Sheriff’s Officers and civilian personnel, along with runners from other local and federal law enforcement agencies.
VIDEO: Police officers from the Illinois State Police, Buffalo Grove, Prospect Heights, Deerfield, Wheeling, Glenview, Northbrook, Des Plaines, Niles and Morton Grove, and Park Ridge helped Sunday with a Torch Run on Milwaukee Avenue and a Torch Run on Dempster Road — two other legs of the Law Enforcement Torch Run (See also over 60 photos of the Special Olympics Law Enforcement Torch Run on Facebook.com/ArlingtonCardinal).
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