Law Enforcement Appreciation Night
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Left: Officer Craig Shaw's family with Nolan Ryan, Center: Dallas police choir prepares to sing national anthem. Right: Arlington Chief Theron Bowman and Randle Meadows prior to first pitch
Children of fallen officers stared dumbstruck as they stood on home plate and looked up at the thousands of baseball fans at a sold out Texas Rangers game. The Dallas Police Choir performed the national anthem and Arlington Police Chief Theron Bowman threw out the first pitch. Texas went on to defeat the Anaheim Angels in a 1-0 thriller.
Baseball legend Nolan Ryan came out to personally visit with the families and pose for photographs prior to the game. The families watched the game from a skybox and enjoyed an evening out. It was particularly good to see the family of Officer Craig Shaw who had recently suffered such a great loss when he was killed in the line of duty in Lancaster.
The Texas Rangers hosted 'Law Enforcement Appreciation Night' at the Ballpark in Arlington on July 23rd with a special section of seats designated to benefit CLEAT's charitable arm, the Peace Officers Memorial Foundation. The Ranger's foundation also made a contribution to the POMF and Ranger's President Nolan Ryan announced that kiosks at various sections would be open through the 5th inning so that fans could also make a direct contribution.
The original idea came from CLEAT regional director and Arlington Police Association President Randle Meadows who met with the Rangers staff and set the evening in motion.
"This was a good event and we have accepted the Ranger's offer to do it again next year," said Charley Wilkison, Director of Public Affairs for CLEAT. "I'd like to thank Randle Meadows for his work in getting this started. I believe we can double the participation by next year," he said.
The POMF is a charity organization started by CLEAT founder Ron DeLord over 22 years ago. The POMF has no paid employees and most of the volunteers are CLEAT employees and their family and friends.
The event raised over $5000 for the POMF which will go towards funding all of the very worthy causes of the foundation. To learn more about all we do or to make a contribution please go to www.pomf.org.
