Back in August of 1984, a community-police partnership was formed entitled National Night Out. The event still exists and is sponsored by the National Association of Town Watch in the United States and Canada. The purpose of this program is to increase awareness of police programs in communities, such as town watch, drug prevention and other anti-crime efforts. At first communities held lights-on vigils, but now, communities host festivals, block parties or other events to help bring neighbors together.

Tuesday night the city of Milford held their National Night Out and what a night it was! They did it up right. They had a dunking booth, jump house, a piñata, pie eating contest, many booths, popcorn, hamburgers and hotdogs and a terrific band.

Included among the many booths was the booth manned by the Milford Police department providing lots of information on how to keep yourself and your children safe. They had information geared for children and included coloring material and other information. Another booth was headed up by Karen Mathiowetz and Jenna Chambers for Relay for Life selling large pickles for a dollar each. They raised $38 with the pickles and were very happy with the amount of donations they received for American Cancer Society. There was a booth for the Milford Cheerleaders, one for the senior citizens with their quilt raffle and a booth with Marble Slab ice cream which could be purchased for a dollar a bowl.

Milford Police Chief Carlos Phoenix and Milford Fire department assistant Chief Carlos Garza manned the dunking booth. They were more in the water than out thanks to the great marksmanship of the Milford youth. You were given three balls for three chances to hit the middle of the target that sent the men swimming, and swim they did.

In mid September the City of Milford held a contest for the children in Milford to create a new patch for the Milford Fire Department to be worn on their uniform shirts. The winner was announced last night at the National Night Out. Out of 28 entries, Cheyenne Frank was the declared winner and proud reciepient of $50 and a certificate.

Lance Finch was honored by the Milford Fire department for his 22 years of service with a certificate and a soon to arrive plaque. Billy Ray Bradly was voted the grouch of the year and Earl Fondren was honored with the Citizen of the Year award.

The pie eating contest was sweet! The four participants were: Ronny Crumpton (Milford ISD Coach), Pastor Villa (No Fences Cowboy Church), Mike Herbold and Ernest Smith. From the moment they yelled go, “it was on!” Four of the most pie eating hungry men you could imagine were eating pie with their hands as fast as they could. The winner was Ronny Crumpton and the runner up was Pastor Villa. Coach Crumpton won a car safety kit and Pastor Villa won $20.

Lisa Phoenix and the Milford Police department out did themselves this year. National Night Out in Milford was a grand success, 300 people were in attendance. Police Chief Phoenix said, “I want to thank my wife Lisa for all the time she put in and also I would like to thank officer Josh Hearn for all the work he did for this event while I was deployed.”