COUNTYWIDE : Torch to Be Carried for Special Olympics
Law enforcement officers will carry a torch from one end of the county to the other today to show their support for this weekend’s Special Olympic Summer Games in Los Angeles.
Members of the Ventura and Oxnard police departments, the county Sheriff’s Department, the district attorney’s office and the California Highway Patrol will carry the torch along a 50-mile route beginning at Emma Wood State Beach in Ventura and ending at the Los Angeles County line near Leo Carrillo State Beach.
The propane-lit torch will be carried into Drake Stadium at UCLA on Friday for the 23rd annual event. A statewide competition will be held Saturday and Sunday.
Forty-nine county law enforcement officials are signed up to take part in the run, “about one runner per mile,” Ventura Parks and Recreation spokeswoman Carol Newsham said.
Nationwide, more than $2.5 million is expected to be raised for the Special Olympics during the torch run, in which law enforcement officials collect pledges for every mile run.
The torch is scheduled to arrive at the Ventura City Hall about 8 a.m., where the procession will stop briefly for a proclamation from city officials, Newsham said.
Participants in the Special Olympics include mentally retarded children and adults.
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