South End celebrates its community spirit

WATERVILLE -- What better way to celebrate South End improvements than with a big party.

Crowds of children and adults played games, took part in skateboard competitions, listened to live music and shared a barbecue dinner Tuesday in Green Street Park as part of National Night Out.

They were celebrating all the hard work residents, police and organizations such as Kennebec Valley Community Action Program have done to make the South End a better place to live.

"This event really demonstrates success," said Kim Hallee, as she helped man a free food table. "I think we've seen an increase in safety, a decrease in crime and we've seen neighbors take increased pride in their homes. I think the sense of community and family is improving."

Sponsored by the National Association of Town Watch, National Night out seeks to heighten crime and drug prevention, strengthen neighborhood and police partnerships and send a message to criminals.

Hallee heads up the South End Neighborhood Association, which has been meeting for the last few years to find ways to improve the neighborhood.

Since the effort started, a teen center has been developed, a park created on the island in the Kennebec River off the Hathaway parking lot, a Museum in the Streets built touting the historical significance of the South End and neighbors working with police to report crime.

South End Police Officer Todd Burbank has an office in the KVCAP building and works closely with neighbors and children. He helped organize Tuesday's event, which started at 3 p.m. and was expected to end at 10 p.m..

"I think it's a good turnout," Burbank said. "We're very, very pleased. That's our goal -- to please the residents of the South End and Waterville, and we're right on track."

By 5 p.m., many applications were in for skateboard competitions at the new skateboard park that recently was completed after years of planning and fundraising.

"I think finishing the skateboard park is a wonderful thing because it gives the youth a constructive outlet," said Meg Richards, as she pushed her daughter, Hope, 1, on a playground swing.

Richards, a member of the Neighborhood Association, said she and her family moved nearly a year ago to Waterville from Whitefield, specifically because the city has a lot of good opportunities for children, such as the Inside Out Playground, and Waterville is touted as one of the 100 best places to raise a child.

"It's a college town and there's a progressive feeling here and there's variety," she said. "I think good things are happening here in Waterville."

She said she likes living in the South End, where neighbors are friendly. "It's a very eclectic blend," she said.

Amber Gervais, 17, was carrying her niece, Brianna, 1, on her hip and watching her other nieces and nephews competing in a sack race.

Gervais said she grew up in the South End, where Green Street Park was much smaller and older kids wrapped the swings over the top of the swing-set so smaller children couldn't use them. She was marveling at the skateboard park and all the children's activities taking place Tuesday.

"When I was a kid I never had this stuff, so it was boring being a kid," she said.

The efforts to improve the park and other places in the South End were not lost on the children. Brian Bellows, 10, was in charge of a bucket toss game where people try to throw plastic balls into buckets. Winners could choose little prizes from a paper bag that contained candy necklaces, crayons, toy airplanes and other tokens. Bellows said he also baked cookies for the celebration.

He said he likes living in the South End, where people are always working on projects.

"They're re-doing some of the parks to make them better, including this park," he said.

Ten-year-old Shayne Sherby had just learned how to operate a 600-pound robot used by the Maine State Police Crisis Negotiation Team. Lt. Jackie Theriault of that team spent time with Sherby, explaining that the robot is used for various activities, such as picking up bombs or carrying a phone to someone barricaded in a building so he can communicate with police.

Sherby, a fifth-grader at Albert S. Hall School, said he wants to be a police officer and was inspired by school resource officer Alan Main. Meanwhile, he described the state police robot as "awesome."

"I learned that electronics can't just be used to help people; they sniff bombs and all that," he said.

Besides Waterville and State Police, Oakland, Winslow and Fairfield police were on hand, as was Kennebec County Sheriff's Office. The night was to end with a flashlight march through the South End.

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