{"id":8194,"date":"2013-08-07T09:17:04","date_gmt":"2013-08-07T13:17:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=8194"},"modified":"2013-08-07T02:23:43","modified_gmt":"2013-08-07T06:23:43","slug":"police-get-taste-of-pizza-and-stardom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=8194","title":{"rendered":"Police get taste of pizza – and stardom"},"content":{"rendered":"

Officers are guests of honor as East Linden celebrates National Night Out<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

By Kathleen Brady Shea<\/span><\/strong>, Managing Editor, The Times<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

A group of presenters from the Historic East Linden Project’s Study Buddies program describe what they learned about the Kennett Square police officers they interviewed.<\/p><\/div>\n

After being mobbed by young autograph-seekers, Kennett Square Police Chief Edward A. Zunino couldn\u2019t be blamed if he felt like a rock star on Tuesday night. \u201cI wish I had a guitar,\u201d he quipped.<\/p>\n

He wasn\u2019t alone. A few feet away on East Linden Street, fans also hounded Officer Johnathan Ortiz. \u201cThis is great; I like this,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve never felt so popular in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

The occasion was the National Night Out observance organized by the Historic East Linden Project, a neighborhood that has put an upbeat \u00a0spin on a national initiative to promote safe communities. The motivation, according to organizers, stems from the numerous positive changes the tight-knit, five-square-block community has seen in the past decade, many of which occurred through a strong partnership with law enforcement.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Officer<\/a>

Kennett Square Police Officer Johnathan Ortiz (from left), Cpl. William Holdsworth, and Cpl. Christopher Wills enjoy the adulation of their fans.<\/p><\/div>\n

And so, for the third year in a row, the Kennett Square Police were honored guests at a celebration to thank them for their service. The highlight of this year\u2019s program was a presentation by a group from “Study Buddies,” the Historic East Linden Project\u2019s popular after-school program, which serves about 25 children in kindergarten through fifth grade.<\/p>\n

One by one, seven of the program\u2019s third-, fourth- and fifth-graders described a project that consisted of interviewing police officers and then creating collectible \u201cOfficer Cards\u201d with the information. \u201cOnce we started learning about what they like to do in their free time, we saw they are people just like us,\u201d explained one of the boys.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany of our officers work really hard and love Kennett, but also enjoy a vacation; who doesn\u2019t?\u201d one of the girls asked, adding that the kids learned about the officers\u2019 favorite relaxation spots, most of which featured shorelines ranging from Bar Harbor to Bermuda. \u201cMost of us like going to the beach, too,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The adults who followed the young presenters applauded their efforts.\u00a0\u201cYou can see why we\u2019re proud of our kids,\u201d said Ethan Cramer, a board member of the Historic East Linden Project.<\/p>\n

\"Kennett<\/a>

Kennett Square Police Chief Edward A. Zunino (from left) chats with Historic East Linden Project’s board president, Theresa Bass, and Barry “Hap” London, a board member, during National Night Out.<\/p><\/div>\n

Theresa Bass, one of the founders, was effusive in her thanks. \u201cI just feel so good about the support we\u2019ve received,\u201d she said, surveying an audience of more than 150 that included neighbors, politicians, police officers, and board members.<\/p>\n

State Rep. Chris Ross said it was a pleasure to attend \u201canother happy event\u201d on East Linden Street. He said he was particularly impressed with the children\u2019s successful outreach to the police. \u201cYou can\u2019t trust someone unless you get to know them,\u201d Ross said, suggesting that the effort was likely to have a \u201cripple effect,\u201d eventually impacting a wider area of southern Chester County.<\/p>\n

Borough Council Member Leon Spencer said police are expected to protect and serve the community. Most officers handle the protection part of their job effectively, he said, noting that they carry weapons. \u201cIt takes special people to serve us,\u201d he said. \u201cThese are special people. These individuals understand what service means.\u201d<\/p>\n

After Tuesday night, they also learned a bit about stardom as they were each given 30 cards to distribute. The requests for cards \u2013 and signatures \u2013 exceeded demand, to the dismay of organizers.<\/p>\n

\"Officer<\/a>

Kennett Square Police Officer Jennifer Albertson, a West Chester native whose favorite food is watermelon, signs one of her cards.<\/p><\/div>\n

LaToya M. Myers, executive director of the Historic East Linden Project, said she and Katie Perigo, the “Study Buddies” teacher, had calculated the number of cards needed so the children could each collect a full set. \u201cWe didn\u2019t realize that some of the adults were going to want them, too,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Perigo said she was very proud of the work the children did on the project. \u201cThey were so excited about doing this,\u201d she said. \u201cThey did really well.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the children enjoyed pizza – the top favorite food of the police officers – Rosie Phillips, the mother of three children, reflected on her five years in the neighborhood. \u00a0\u201cEveryone looks out for everyone else,\u201d she said. Proving the point, the baby Phillips was holding was not her own. \u201cThey call me the neighborhood mom,\u201d she said with a smile.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Officers are guests of honor as East Linden celebrates National Night Out By Kathleen Brady Shea, Managing Editor, The Times After being mobbed by young autograph-seekers, Kennett Square Police Chief Edward A. Zunino couldn\u2019t be blamed if he felt like a rock star on Tuesday night. \u201cI wish I had a guitar,\u201d he quipped. He […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":8198,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[2615,974,1683,958],"class_list":["post-8194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-featured","tag-study-buddies","tag-historic-east-linden-project","tag-kennett-square-police-chief-edward-a-zunino","tag-national-night-out"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8194\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}