To the editor:
While I was out there helping with the Bike Rodeo, I got to thinking. I was thinking about all the riots, looting and violence going on around our country and how the police have come up with bad reputations.
What I saw here in Perry on Saturday was our police department being a part of our community. There was hands-on help from Officer Jerome Hill with the youth in our community. He spent time talking with these kids about bike safety. These young people got to see a police office in a completely different light. This was someone there to help, not to fear.
While visiting with him that day, he talked about leaving here and going to help with Perry Little League. He went from the Bike Rodeo to the ball field, where more kids in our community get a chance to see the police not as in the images on TV but as real people who care about them.
I salute Officer Hill and the Perry Police Department for what they are doing for the young people of Perry. Thanks for a job well done! With a police department and officers like this, ThePerryNews.com should never have to report on violence here like the kind we see elsewhere in our country.
Larry Vodenik, Perry