M.V. Honors ‘Heroes’

By LAURA ROBISON

The Progress

A local crowd of about 500 people flocked to the Logandale Sports Complex on Saturday evening, April 23, for a family-friendly evening of fun. The event was called Moapa Valley Heroes Night and it aimed to recognize and support the many first responders living in the community.

“There are around 180 first responders who live in this valley and they are all heroes,” said Logandale resident Erika Whitmore who helped organize the event. “This night is meant as a celebration and to inspire positive relationships for the youth in the valley and local authorities including law enforcement.”

The evening began with a flag-raising by the local “Flags Up” crew: Oscar Henderson, Cliff Peterson and Jack Johnson. Then the demonstrations and fun began.

At the grill were local firefighters cooking up a community meal of hamburgers and hot dogs.

A series of flag football games drew a large crowd to the nearby field. There were three mini games played with MVHS Pirates beating both the firefighter team, 12-6, and the police team, 14-0. The third game was a friendly rivalry game between firefighters and police. The firefighters were ahead when, in true hero fashion, they had to leave to respond to a fire in the community.

A dunk tank allowed kids a try at throwing a ball at a target and dunking their favorite police officers. Those hovering over the tank that evening included CCSD Officer Jimmy, Metro Officers Mark Harding, Nathan Bradford and Sergeant. Doty.
“I have no idea how many times I was dunked, there were too many times to count,” said Bradford.

The Mercy Air helicopter was on hand allowing kids to sit in the back and ask questions about the aircraft and its work.

McGruff the Crime Dog was in attendance making the rounds and standing for photos with attendees. A sobriety test and drunk goggles were used to show attendees how driving drunk can really impair your judgement and senses.

At one booth, raffle tickets were sold for a hot tub/spa to raise money for local firefighter Erika Beckstrand who is fighting severe endometriosis and needs surgery.

There were motorcycle police, police cars, and fire trucks for attendees to check out. T-shirts and yard signs were sold, kids could put on firefighter gear and receive a free fire hat and bracelet.

A K-9 demonstration gripped the attention of all the on-lookers. Buddy the Canine showed off his training by only attacking when he was told to. Officer Overson explained that there are many months of training for police dogs and their handlers, and they only attack ‘bad guys’.
“The hardest part of training is to teach the dogs to release a suspect when called off,” Overson said. “Their reward is when they are allowed to attack their target again.”

The Brummett family was in attendance at the event. “We felt it was important to bring the kids to show them patriotism, and teach them resect for those who serve us,” Valerie Brummett said. “We love this community!”

Moapa Valley Fire District Chief Stephen Neel said that he was pleased with the attendance at the event. “We appreciate the support from the community,” he said. “It was great to see neighbors come together for a night out to support our first responders.”

Neel said that the fundraising component of the event was to support a new Explorer program which will be starting in the fall. This program allows high school juniors and seniors to receive basic firefighter training. Participants gain leadership skills, network with firefighting professionals, participate in hands-on projects and give kids a feel for the career, Neel said.
“Thank you for all those who came out and for those who donated money to go towards our fire explorer program,” Neel said.

“It was an awesome event for the community,” said Metro Sergeant Keegan Doty. “We had so many entities, businesses and volunteers that came together to make the night a success. And we were able to raise several thousands of dollars for Moapa Valley Fire District to start their explorer program.”

The plan is to make this an annual event, with even more demonstrations, fun games, and activities next year.

All the food, bounce houses, games, dunk tank and activities were donated by local sponsors and manned with volunteers. There were many sponsors, and hard work from many volunteers who put in a lot of hours to make this a successful celebration of the Moapa Valley heroes.