Los Gatos Weekly-Times

The Prowler

If you saw cops in shorts and T-shirts jogging through downtown Los Gatos around 10 a.m. on June 3, followed by a patrol car with flashing lights, it wasn't just a morning hallucination induced by not waking up with enough coffee.

While taking a prowl along N. Santa Cruz Avenue that morning to pick up some of the aforementioned java, the Prowler joined other innocent bystanders in viewing this spectacle. Unlike most of them, however, this feline bystander prowled further and got the scoop on the running troupe.

Turns out this was part of the annual Law Enforcement Torch Run, a fundraiser and public awareness-raising event for the Special Olympics. Police and sheriff's departments throughout California participate by running through portions of the areas they serve, carrying a torch relay-style that will eventually end up in Los Angeles for the California Special Olympic Games competition, which will take place later in June.

Here in Los Gatos, Sgt. Mike Yorks and officers J.R. Langer and Randy Rimple each ran portions of the Los Gatos leg of the relay, which began at Lexington Dam, where sheriff's deputies passed the torch, and concluded in Campbell with a transfer to that city's P.D. It's nice to see cops running for a more leisurely reason than that of chasing after crooks and other unsavories.

The registration fee for each officer serves as a donation to the Special Olympics, as do the sales of the commemorative T-shirts.

For more information about coaching or making a donation, call the Special Olympics Santa Clara County branch at 267-2734.

[ Back to Contents Page | Los Gatos Weekly-Times Home Page | Archives ]