Albion PD for first time joins in torch run for Special Olympics
Photos by Tom Rivers
ALBION – Members of the Albion Police Department carried the torch for the Special Olympics this morning in a 2.7-mile run through the village. The top photo shows Sgt. Will Francis, right, handing the torch to officer Sean McElhinny. They are running south on Main Street.
Police Chief Dave Mogle carries the torch at the beginning of the run. Lt. Brandon Annable is at left. Nearly everyone in the Albion PD was part of the run this morning.
Mogle said he went to a Law Enforcement Torch Run last year in Niagara Falls with Village Trustee Tim McMurray to see what a run in person and the logistics involved.
Mogle wanted to host the run to offer another chance for law enforcement between Erie-Niagara counties and Monroe to be part of a torch run. (Batavia also hosts one in Genesee County.)
“We wanted one in Orleans County,” Mogle said. “We welcome more agencies to be a part of it.”
The Albion Police Department pose with students at Albion before the run.
Alex Yankevich, an Albion student, holds the torch before the police officers started on the run.
Dillon Black, a sergeant with the Albion PD, takes a turn carrying the torch. He is followed by Nathaniel Staines.
Albion police officer Justyn Haines runs on Main Street. He wears a commemorative shirt for the torch run. Matt Prawel, an Orleans County deputy and the Albion school resource officer, is at right.
Erica Raepple, senior director of development at the Special Olympics in New York, said the Law Enforcement Torch Run raised $2.4 million for the Special Olympics last year, with funding going to support unified sports and many other programs for people with disabilities.
Leslie Daum of Waterport carried an American flag for the beginning of the run. She said she has been a longtime supporter for the cause. She remembers attending the opening ceremonies in 1979 at Brockport State College when the local college hosted the International Special Olympics.
The officers head south down Main Street. They were headed to Route 31, where they then went east to the Albion school campus to Clarendon Road, back on Route 31, down McKinistry Street and then back to the village office on East Bank Street.
