Wet weather may have kept some people at home, but it failed to dampen activities as law enforcement agencies and emergency response teams held an open house Saturday at the Emo-La Vallee arena.
Nearly 50 groups and organizations from across Rainy River District and northern Minnesota attracted more than 400 people to view the exhibits—some of which were interactive.
A barbecue serving hotdogs, smokies, and hamburgers did a brisk business, raising $200 for the Rainy River District Community Policing Committee.
The dunk tank, meanwhile, proved to be an even more lucrative enterprise as people paid $1 for three chances to send local politicians, police and firefighters, and several media reps into the big tank (which turned out to be a warmer place than sitting in the cool air on the dunking bench).
Among the more popular targets were Fort Frances Fire Chief Steve Richardson and OPP S/Sgt. Hugh Dennis thanks to the enthusiastic participation of their rank and file, who appeared to be unable to resist the chance to take their superiors down a notch or two.
“There seemed to be a lot of guys in uniform lining up to take a shot,” recalled Chief Richardson, who was sent plunging at least eight times. “I lost count after a while.
“It was all in good fun and raised money for a good cause,” he added.
But it was S/Sgt. Dennis who seemed to attract the most attention. By his recollection, he was dunked 20 times—and often by the same people.
“I think Greg Allan of the fire department had a personal vendetta going,” S/Sgt. Dennis laughed. “He has a pretty good arm and I guess he wanted to show it off.
“I challenged him to go up there [on the dunk tank] and take his chances, but he claimed he had some kind of medical excuse but I don’t believe it.
“It was just a lot of fun and I understand we raised a fair bit of money,” he added.
In fact, the dunk tank raised $376 for new playground equipment for schools in Emo and Barwick.
But it wasn’t all fun and games, of course.
There were displays and pamphlets covering everything from drugs to domestic abuse, along with measures people can take to protect themselves from harm.
One popular exhibit was the drunk driver simulator, in which one wore a pair of special goggles that distort and disorient your vision while trying to “drive” through a busy urban setting.
The goggles simulate the degree of impairment roughly twice the legal limit of blood alcohol. And the results of the test proved to be quite sobering to those who participated.
Meanwhile, OPP Cst. Geoff Hartley of the K-9 unit gave a demonstration of how a well-trained dog can be of tremendous assistance to the police when trying to locate a lost person or when subduing a fleeing suspect.
CPC chair Bonnie Bender was extremely pleased with the outcome.
“I think it went really well,” she said. “[Cst.] Pete Drouin deserves a lot of credit for setting it up.”
“The most important reason for doing this was for public education and I think we definitely did that,” Bender added. “We wanted people to know just how many services are out there for their benefit and to meet the people who make it all work.
“I’d definitely like to do it again,” she remarked.
Fort Frances Times
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