Opening Remarks on NNO2024, Riverside Park, Port Jervis, Aug.28th

Okay, I'd like to welcome everybody to the 16th annual National Night Out, and the Port Jervis PBA and the Chief and all their volunteers work very hard. This event looks bigger than it's ever been. I know the attendance might be a little low, but I think if you're out there and you hear us, you should come over from all the wards in PJ. Come on over and enjoy it and have a good time out here. At this time, I'd like to ask you to remove your hats, stand for the National Anthem. Would you bow your heads? Heavenly Father, we get full of gratitude, united in purpose to stand against crime and to seek peace, safety in our communities. They have put their efforts in to make this one of the greatest activities in the city of Port Jervis. There was one lady that stood out above all. Her name was Ellen. I got to meet her here my first time, the first year that they ever did it, and she just was a spark plug man, ran around this entire park, worked hard, helped the PBA, just very involved in all the things that they did, what they stood for, and represented Chief Warden very well. We miss her. So, at this time, I'd like to ask for a moment of silence for Ellen Wong. Thank you, Bill. Welcome to our 16th annual National Night Out Against Crime celebration at beautiful downtown Riverside Park in Port Jervis. I'd like to acknowledge some of the dignitaries that are here today, and some of them are going to speak to you. The first dignitary I'd like to bring up to the microphone is our Mayor, Dominic Siculis, to say a few words. Thank you, Chief. Thank you, everyone, for coming out today. Chief, I'd like to especially thank you. For 16 years in a row, this event just continues to get better and better and better, and it's clear by the turnout that we have today. Thank you, Chief. I'd also like to thank the members of the Port Jervis PBA and the Port Jervis Police Department and our law enforcement partners for coming out today and also supporting and running this event today. Senator Skoufis's office, we are very, very much in your in-debt. Senator Skoufis presented us a check for $10,000, which helped fund this. At this time, I'd like to turn over the microphone to Senator Skoufis's representative, my friend, Lizette. Thank you, everybody, for having us here tonight. Senator Skoufis sends his best, and hopes that everyone has a happy and healthy night. Our office is a resource for you, and what we like to say is it's not really our office, it's your office, because we are here for the community residents within Orange County. I just wanted to thank the Port Jervis Police Department and the Port Jervis City Council for allowing us to have such a strong and happy partnership, and we were very excited to secure $100,000 for national nights out across Orange County, but more specifically, the $10,000 for Port Jervis. Community and police relationships are very important, and we think it makes for a stronger and happier community, so thank you to the Port Jervis Police Department, and thanks for having us. Thank you. We have a lot of dignitaries up here I'd like to acknowledge. I'm going to start with, we had Dave Hubler, our district attorney. He was in the crowd earlier. He had to leave to hit another event. We want to thank him for his support. We have my good friend and colleague, Chief Rich Stender from the Town of Deer Park Police Department. Councilman-at-Large Mike Hockenberry, retired police officer. I have Councilman Jason Vicariello, another retired police officer. Councilman Stan Siegel, he's working the gate, making sure everyone's safe as they're entering the park. Thank you, Stan. We have Councilman Jeff Rhodes here. He's a former fire chief and deputy fire coordinator now for the area. Thank you for being here. And we have our fire chiefs with us today. Fire Chief Keith Brown and Assistant Fire Chief Jeff Lewis. Representing Assemblyman Carl Brabenick, he sends his regrets that he could not be here, but his executive director Susanna Edzegna is here with us today. Thank you for all the support. And now it's my pleasure to introduce to you, he needs no introduction, but a good friend of ours. He's been a great friend of our community, the director of Port Pride. Representing the Port Jervis City School District, Mr. Andrew Morata. Thanks, Chief. Hello, everyone. Hello, Port Jervis. Can I get a go, Port? Can I get a go, Port? For all our students out there, for all families, we are opening school next week. We're excited about it. Saturday is going to be the grand opening of East Main Elementary. One o'clock ceremony. Everyone's invited. One o'clock ceremony. Ribbon cutting and open house until four. That is on Saturday and school opens on Tuesday. So let's enjoy this night. It is a nice night for Port Jervis to get together. I see Mr. Lozaro, high school principal there. But on behalf of Dr. Bell and the Port Jervis City School District, we want to wish you a great night tonight. National night out. How about another go, Port? Thanks, Chief. So thank you for coming out tonight, joining us on this warm August evening to help promote positive police community partnerships and to improve the quality of life not only in our city but the tri-state area. We appreciate all the support from the participating agencies that are here tonight. Our crew of hard-working volunteers and our generous donors and sponsors for supporting this entirely free event tonight. Thank you. Tonight we're going to demonstrate our unity as a community to keeping our city and tri-state area safe. We have law enforcement representatives, representatives from many emergency services at all levels across the tri-state area, various community-based, faith-based organizations, health and human services organizations and business organizations with here tonight. Our Port Jervis School District and of course our residents working together to promote positive solutions to improve the well-being of our community. Just remember that our dedication and our persistence is most and most importantly our partnerships are what makes a difference to keeping our community beautiful and safe. Please take the time to go around and visit the various organizations that have taken the time to present their services they provide and have fun tonight. And as Mr. Morada said school starts next week. If you haven't taken a look at the beautiful work that our district is doing on not only the 209 campus but the new elementary school you got to go out and check it out. We're real proud of that. Thank you. All right thank you once again for supporting National Night Out and before I close I just want to give some kudos to my emcee and my DJ, DJ Rockefeller and my emcee Billy Smith. We got some great schedule events tonight. We're going to have a show involving some fire and juggling. There's all kinds of emergency services demonstrations going on and there's going to be a canine demonstration occurring later this evening as well. God bless our community. Thanks for coming out and stay safe everyone.