Whitfield Agencies Join Forces To Carry Torch For Special Olympics

  • Monday, May 23, 2016
  • Mitch Talley
The Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office welcomed some new participants from fellow local agencies this year as they came together to run nearly 10 miles Wednesday morning in the annual Law Enforcement Torch Run for Georgia Special Olympics. 

Adding the 13 new runners from the Whitfield County Fire Department and the Department of Juvenile Justice (District 1) led to a much larger group this year, with nearly two dozen people in all taking part.

“This is the 30th year that deputies from the Sheriff’s Office have participated in this annual fund-raiser to support children from around the state with special needs,” Whitfield County Sheriff Scott Chitwood said while watching the runners stretch and chat with one another before beginning on their journey.

One of those runners was once again Lt.
Wayne Mathis of the Sheriff’s Office, who is the only person in Georgia to have run in all 30 Torch Runs.

Also on hand to greet the runners was one of the Whitfield County competitors in the Georgia Special Olympics, 29-year-old Stephanie Clayton, who has been taking part in swimming events for more than 11 years. In fact, over the years, she’s finished second a couple of times and third in a relay. She’ll be competing in 50-meter freestyle and 50-meter breaststroke this year.

Chris West with the Whitfield County Fire Department said they were honored to be asked to participate in the event.

“They asked us so we put the word out and six of the guys signed up to run,” Mr. West said. “They got to work selling shirts and getting donations and raised $750 between the six of them. They were all excited about it. We’ll team up with them every  year, I reckon, and try to help them out. It’s a good thing, no doubt.”

Firefighters also took part in the local Special Olympics that was held recently at Southeast Whitfield with Northwest Whitfield, Coahulla Creek, and Murray County also competing.

Wednesday morning, the runners gathered at the old county jail, passed through the parking lot of City Park Elementary School as teachers and students greeted them, then headed down Thornton Avenue for a mile to Bryman South, where they climbed onto a county bus to head to the South Bypass. There they unloaded and began running south to U.S. 41. 

As usual, officers took a water/bathroom break at Valley Point Elementary School as students lined up on both sides of the driveway to greet them with high-fives and  hand-slaps as they ran through. After a 15-minute break, they headed south again to the Gordon County line, completing the nearly 10-mile run.

The Law Enforcement Torch Run is the largest annual fundraising event benefiting Special Olympics Georgia. This signature event plays a significant role in Special Olympics Georgia’s annual budget.

With more participants this year, the Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office has already raised about $1,600 for Special Olympics and continues to offer T-shirts and caps for sale. If you’d like to make a contribution or a purchase, contact Sgt. Tammy Silvers at the Sheriff’s Office at 706-279-1879.

The mission of Special Olympics Georgia is to provide year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, giving them continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy, and participate in a sharing of gifts, skills, and friendship with their families, other Special Olympics athletes, and the community.

The Law Enforcement Torch Run involved more than 1,000 law enforcement officers from more than 100 agencies who took part in a 1,000-mile, two-week torch relay to pass the Special Olympics Georgia “Flame of Hope” across the state. All of the 11 relays converged at Emory University (Atlanta) during the State Summer Games Opening Ceremony on Friday, May 20.

The Torch Run culminated at the State Summer Games as officers entered the Opening Ceremony with the Olympic Torch – the Flame of Hope. The Torch was passed to a Special Olympics athlete who lit the Olympic cauldron signifying “Let the games begin.”

More than 1,900 Special Olympics athletes, Unified Partners and coaches from around the state descended on Emory University to compete May 21-22 in Aquatics, Athletics, Soccer, Long Distance Running and Walking, Flag Football, Volleyball, Tennis, Gymnastics, and Table Tennis with more than 600 coaches to guide them in competition.

The Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics, the largest grassroots fundraising program for the cause, began in 1981 when Wichita, Kan., Police Chief Richard LaMunyon saw an urgent need to raise funds for and increase awareness of Special Olympics.

The idea for the Torch Run was to provide local law enforcement officers with an opportunity to volunteer with Special Olympics in the communities where the officers lived and worked. After three years of successful runs in Kansas, Chief LaMunyon presented his idea to the International Association of Chiefs of Police, which endorsed Special Olympics as its official charity through the Torch Run. Today, all 50 states and more than 40 countries have their own versions of the Torch Run.
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