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November 25, 2009

On the Bright Side: Area sheriff departments launch Project Blue Light

By Patricia Breakey
Delhi News Bureau

Area police agencies are hoping people will add a little bit of blue to their holiday decorating this year.

Delaware County Sheriff Tom Mills and sheriff’s departments in Otsego and Schoharie counties are encouraging people to take part in Project Blue Light to honor police officers.

“Tis the time of year when we begin to think about unraveling the miles of tangled Christmas lights and dragging out the ladder to decorate our homes for the Christmas season, Mills said in letter to county residents Monday.

“I would like to take this opportunity to solicit your consideration of incorporating Project Blue Light by placing a single blue bulb in your Christmas decorations which will be visible from outside.”

The blue lights pay tribute to police officers lost in the line of duty and show appreciation for all police officers who continue to serve and protect, Mills said.

Otsego County Undersheriff Cameron Allison said, “The blue light also signifies support and thanks to those officers who continue to work the streets and jails 24 hours a day, every day of the year.”

Schoharie County Sheriff John S. Bates Jr. said he thinks putting up blue lights is a very simple way to take part in an important program. In 1988, a Philadelphia woman put blue lights in her windows during the holiday season in honor of her son-in-law, a police officer who had been killed in the line of duty.

“The color blue is a symbol of peace, and this holiday season we urge all Americans to remember our domestic peacekeepers — the men and women of law enforcement — by putting blue lights in your windows and trimming your tree and home in blue,” Craig W. Floyd, chairman and chief executive of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, said in a media release.

“Blue lights during the holiday season are a visible reminder of the service and sacrifice that law enforcement officers make on behalf of all Americans 365 days a year.”

The tradition traces its roots to Dolly Craig’s 1999 letter to the organization Concerns of Police Survivors. Craig wrote that she would be putting blue lights in her windows that holiday season in honor of her late son-in-law, Philadelphia police officer Danny Gleason. She thought others might like to share her idea.

“Now, each year, we see thousands of blue lights, symbolic for both the support of peace officers as well as the hope for peace in the following year, displayed throughout the country in the windows of homes, businesses and churches,” Mills wrote.

___

If you have good news you’d like to share, call Associate Managing Editor/ City Editor Emily Popek at 432-1000 or (800) 721-1000, ext. 217; fax her at 432-5707; e-mail her at news @ thedailystar.com; or write to her at P.O. Box 250, Oneonta, NY 13820.

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