Residents and local public safety personnel came together Tuesday night, Aug. 3, for the fourth consecutive year to celebrate National Night Out. The nationwide event is the offspring of National Association of Town Watch (NATW), established in 1981 in Philadelphia, to provide community watch groups with assets to stay informed and involved within their communities.
In 1984, NATW launched the first National Night Out that brought out 2.5 million neighbors across 400 communities in 23 states to host block parties, festivals, parades and other community events. Today, according to NATW, 38 million neighbors in 16,000 communities, including Hollister, across the nation take part in the event.
At Hollister’s National Night Out event on San Benito Street near the Veterans Memorial Building, there were representatives from the Hollister Police Department, Police Animal Care and Services, the Hollister Fire Department, San Benito County Sheriff’s Department, California Highway Patrol, San Benito County Search and Rescue, and the San Benito County Community Emergency Response Team (CERT).
“National Night Out was for neighborhood watches to get together to take a stand against crime,” said Hollister Police Chief David Westrick. “The best way to do that is in the evening, after everybody’s home from work to celebrate together and to show unity within the community that crime that affects the neighborhoods is unacceptable.”
Westrick said the event is just an indication of what the community gives back to public safety personnel every day.
“This is a big thank-you to them from me for always calling us when they see something strange or suspicious,” he said. “They always support us when we need help. It comes back to us ten-fold. Hollister PD tries to be as transparent as possible to strengthen the relationship we have with the community and this is one way we can do that.”
Tim Takeuchi, district emergency coordinator with San Benito County Amateur Radio Association, said the 30 to 40 volunteers provides emergency communications services and further the art of amateur radio. He said the organization is made up of two groups: the Amateur Radio Emergency Services and Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service.
“We are with the sheriff’s office to provide emergency communications and we also pair up with Search and Rescue a lot of times,” Takeuchi said. “We’re all volunteers. For me, it’s like a calling. I started with amateur radio when I was 10, and as I got older I found more of a need to help out.”
Alicia Minnich comes from a long line of relatives in law enforcement. When she was sworn in recently as Hollister’s newest animal control officer, she said it was a dream come true, one she’s had since she was 10 years old. She took part in National Night Out accompanying the shelter’s mobile adoption trailer. As youngsters ogled kittens and bunnies inside the air conditioned trailer, she said most of the animals were strays or were surrendered to the shelter for adoption.
“I’ve taken it out three times with 15 animals and 10 were adopted,” she said, adding that the animals inside the trailer could not be adopted during the event, but those interested could come to the shelter to do so. “We’re not set up for mobile adoptions yet, but we’re handing out applications and people can come by at noon, if they’re interested.”
Ted Zanella was downtown with his daughters and a couple friends. He has lived in Hollister all his life and said National Night Out is a great event and that he hopes the city does many similar events, especially for the kids.
“I think it’s great for the kids to get out so they can get used to seeing those in the police and fire departments,” he said. “It’s good to get the community out, especially the young ones. A lot of times when you see the police people kind of cower, but they’re here to help and they’re our friends.”
As Hollister City Councilman Raymond Friend meandered through the crowd, he said National Night Out gives children a chance to meet one-on-one with police officers and firefighters.
“It gives the kids a chance to find out they’re (police and firefighters) really dads and moms and good people, and not just a badge. They’re part of the community,” he said.
State Assemblywoman Anna Caballero had the opportunity to visit constituents in Hollister as she raced between four cities to participate in National Night Out events. She said the yearly event is important to her because of her involvement in violence prevention programs over the years.
“The more you can get the community involved and get them to understand what resources are available to them the better and safer the community is going to be,” she said.
Sandra Millo and Rod Coleman, volunteers with San Benito County Search and Rescue were demonstrating knot tying and showing people some of their equipment. Coleman said the organization is affiliated with the sheriff’s department. He said the organization’s members are experienced in a number of rescue techniques, using vehicles, horses and watercraft. Most recently, they rescued several people during the flooding at Lovers Lane.
“We train monthly,” he said. “We have outside vendors who come in and help us and we do a lot of in-house training too. A lot of us are experts in different disciplines and we train the others.”
Hollister Fire Chief Bob Martin Del Campo said he has been involved in at least eight National Night Out events during which he has seen more and more participation from the community.
“They feel a lot more comfortable coming to us and that’s the whole intent of it,” he said. “When it started back East, the community was not very comfortable coming to public safety for help or report anything, so when this was established we started getting a whole lot more participation from the community.”
During the Hollister event there were several superhero characters—Batman, Spiderman, Aladdin and Wonder Woman—in the crowd posing for pictures with children and adults alike. The kids, especially the little girls, crowded around Wonder Woman, aka Estella Ramos, a member of Heroes for Hope, a nonprofit organization of volunteers who not only like to dress up, but raise money whenever possible for special needs.
“We visit area hospitals and we try to do some fundraisers throughout the year,” she said. “During Christmas we try to get stockings for all the kids in the hospitals to give them some hope.”
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