Local Response
Hitting close to home
Monmouth County vigil brings community together to show support
July 7, 2016 sent a similar feeling through Locals and towns across
New Jersey: How do we respond to the attack in Dallas that hit the
law enforcement community there
and law enforcement communities
throughout the world?
Holmdel Local 239 Vice-President Chris Cherney had a response
scenario in mind. Early on the
morning following the killing of the
five Dallas officers, Cherney called
Local 239 State Delegate Mike Michalski with an idea.
“Chris said he had this sick feeling that he
hadn’t felt since 9-11,” Michalski related. “He
wanted to plan a candlelight vigil for the next
day.”
Michalski said his first response to Cherney was talking about going to Dallas for the funerals. But they felt local support might be better served by putting together an event at home.
“We talked about going to Dallas, and we were feeling the same
things watching it unfold,” Michalski continued. “We were sitting in
the parking lot that next day at a shopping center talking, and people
were walking up to the car thanking us. We really started to understand what was going on. It wasn’t just Dallas feeling the effects of
the attack.”
Cherney proposed holding the vigil at the Monmouth County Police Academy, where both he and Michalski started their careers. Getting it scheduled for Saturday, two days after the shootings, might
have taken moving mountains. But Local 239 figured such a response
was warranted.
Cherney called one of the Monmouth County undersheriffs, who
secured approval from the Monmouth County Freeholders to greenlight the vigil. They settled on moving it to Monday to have enough
time to make the service special.
And it was. More than 300 people attended
the service that was held in front on the Academy’s law enforcement memorial Monday
at dusk. Framed
pictures of the
five Dallas officers were set up
on easels. Honor
Guards from the
Monmouth County Sheriff’s Department, and the Holmdel, Hazlet and Howell Police
Departments presented colors. The service included placing wreaths
on each picture. Monmouth County Sheriff Shaun Golden read tributes to all of the fallen. Michalski spoke on behalf of the State PBA.
The service ended with a mass candle-lighting and the playing of
Taps and the singing of God Bless America.
“It was really a remarkable experience,” Michalski added. “We were
able to pay our respects and help a community that was suffering
and create some good feelings in our own community. A lot of the
credit goes to Chris for coming up with this great plan to have the
vigil.”
Bright Idea
Local businesses light it up for
law enforcement in Middlesex Boro
The support for law enforcement, both locally resulting from of
the continuing empathy following the attacks in Dallas and Baton
Rouge, continues, and it spread to Middlesex Boro on the night of
Aug. 2.
John Ellery, President of the Middlesex Boro Business Professional Association, arranged for more than 200 blue lightbulbs to be
passed out to residents who attended the National Night Out activities in the boro. At first, residents did not catch the significance
of the blue lights.
“But once we explained it to them, they were asking for another
one and then another one,” said Ellery, who owns Ellery’s Restaurant and Pub in the boro that is known for its ongoing support of
law enforcement. “I would say in an hour or so that all the lightbulbs were gone.”
Ellery added that he was getting text messages days after the
event asking where to get more blue lights. He also noted that the
boro police department was lit with blue lights as part of its continued effort to promote community policing.
www.njcopsmagazine.com
■ AUGUST 2016 37