SHERIFF’S OFFICE CARRIES TORCH FOR SPECIAL OLYMPICS
Wednesday, June 10, 2009 — Officials from Cook County Sheriff Thomas J. Dart’s office, local law enforcement leaders and dozens of runners recently gathered to kick off Leg 5 of the Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics.
The kickoff ceremony was held in the parking lot of Malcolm X College in Chicago. After the ceremony, runners took to the streets, carrying the Special Olympics Torch, 23 miles, to Palos Heights. This was the first day of the 4-day trek to Bloomington, Illinois, the site of the State Summer Olympics Games.
The Law Enforcement Torch Run is an annual event held in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and 20 nations throughout the world. The run generates more than $3.5 million annually for Special Olympics, an agency that enables more than one million children and adults with developmental disabilities to participate in year-round sports activities. Last year, Leg 5 raised more than $175,000.
Pictured, from left to right, are: Joe Peña, Chief of the Channahon Police and Director of the Torch Run for Illinois; Illinois Supreme Court Justice Anne Burke, founder of the Special Olympics in Chicago; Special Olympians Peter Tosto, Molly Veach and Kenny O’Reilly; Doug Snyder, President and CEO of Special Olympics Illinois; Michael Smith, First Deputy Chief of the Cook County Sheriff’s Police and Matthew Walsh, Deputy Chief, Cook County Sheriff’s Police.
