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Torch to pass through area on Tuesday SPECIAL OLYMPICS Staff Writer Law enforcement in the Brainerd lakes area will be passing the torch for a good cause Tuesday.
The 2006 Torch Run will be passing through Brainerd-Baxter in the morning in an event to celebrate the Special Olympics Minnesota's Summer Games. The 2006 Summer Games start with opening ceremonies Thursday at the University of Minnesota's Bierman Field where the Special Olympics cauldron will be lit about 8:15 p.m. The Summer Games will take place Friday and Saturday.
Brainerd Police Sgt. Terry Crocker, who along with Baxter Police Sgt. Andy Rooney organized the successful Polar Bear Plunge to support Special Olympics Minnesota athletes in March in Breezy Point, will join nearly a dozen area law enforcement officers to participate in the Torch Run from Staples to Little Falls.
Crocker and Rooney, Brainerd-Baxter area Torch Run coordinators, also will represent area law enforcement in the final leg of the Torch Run with other law enforcement officers from around the state as they carry the torch from the state Capitol building to the University of Minnesota's Bierman Field Thursday night.
Crocker said Monday night area officers will pick up the torch from Wadena area officers in Staples around 8 a.m. Tuesday and then they will carry the torch east along Highway 10 to Motley to Highway 210, arriving in Baxter around 10 a.m.
Law enforcement officers will then run with the torch along Washington Street and south on Business Highway 371 to pass the torch to other law enforcement officers waiting in Little Falls.
Last year more than 600 law enforcement officers representing 75 agencies throughout the state participated in the Torch Run. Officers will be biking and running as they participate in the Torch Run.
"It's meant to raise awareness for the games and, of course, for the athletes," said Crocker.
Crocker said he and Rooney will be volunteering at the Summer Games this weekend and will place medals on athletes who win the gold, silver and bronze, which gives them the opportunity to interact with the athletes.
"We really have a blast with the athletes," said Crocker.
The 2006 Torch Run started Monday. There are three legs of the 2,000-mile run, which started in Duluth, Moorhead and in southern Minnesota. Each leg of the Torch Run will meet at the Capitol building Thursday for the final leg of the event.
JODIE TWEED can be reached at jodie.tweed@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5858.
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