Communities, police come together for National Night Out

Zachary Cuetara dunks a basketball at the National Night Out in Auburn with the help of Troy Barnies, an Auburn native who plays professional basketball in Europe. Barnies’ twin brother is an Auburn police officer.

Twin Cities residents Tuesday evening celebrated National Night Out, an annual event to promote community-police relations.

Auburn’s celebration was held at Festival Plaza, with part of Main Street blocked off for the family fun. Live music by The Veggies, grilled food, and a bounce house obstacle course were some of the main attractions.

Mayor Jonathan LaBonte and Auburn native Troy Barnies were on hand to shoot hoops with children and they played rounds of knockout.

Barnies, who graduated from Edward Little High School, plays professional basketball in Turkey.

Every time he comes home, he makes sure he gets involved in the community “to help kids and do fun things with them, show them what they can do,” he said.

His twin brother, Travis, is an Auburn police officer on the APD All-Star basketball team.

“It’s a fun activity for the kids to come out and get active,” LaBonte said. “It’s good to see kids from all parts of the community here, even if they do knock me out. A lot of these kids may not have the opportunity to travel this summer, and this is a good chance for them to have fun.”

LaBonte said the all-star team, which consists of about 10 officers, does fundraisers all year for the PAL center in Auburn.

He said it’s nice to see so many people from the community celebrating with the police officers — and it’s one of the few times Chief (Phil) Crowell is dressed casually,” LaBonte joked.

Across the river in Simard-Payne Memorial Park, Lewiston police officers were celebrating with the community at the city’s own event, including a disc jockey, food and games.

Community leader Zam Zam Mohamud said it was “a lovely evening with the cheerleaders, the food, the music. It’s nice for the kids to come out and see the officers on the other side, not on the streets.”

Officer Craig Johnson, president of the Lewiston Police Athletic League, said the new location this year might have affected the turnout, but he was feeling good about the overall community outreach they’ve done this year.

“This is one of many things that increases our relationship with the community,” he said.

Heidi Sawyer said she was happy with the turnout.

“It’s nice to see everyone coming out,” she said, adding that she wants to see the officers do a flash mob at next year’s Night Out.

As the evening came to a close, most of the Auburn crowd made their way to Lewiston for the screening of “The Secret Life of Pets.”

Officer Joe Phillipon said the turnout this year for the weekly summer movie night has been great, averaging about 300 people each week. He said that’s about 100 more people than last year.

“A couple weeks have been dicey with the weather, but we got lucky with Mother Nature,” Phillipon said.

National Night Out is important because it reinforces community unity, he said.

“At the end of the day, regardless of who you are, where you live, no matter what your race or gender is, we’ll be stronger as a community if we work together — whether as Lewiston or Lewiston-Auburn,” he said.

abcullen@sunjournal.com

Alexis Gould enjoys the music while perched on the shoulders of her mother, Lucretia Gould, at National Night Out at Festival Plaza in Auburn on Tuesday.

Donnie Hebert of The Veggies croons into the microphone as backup tambourine players Thomas Tardiff and Emma Lamontagne keep the beat at National Night out in Festival Plaza in Auburn on Tuesday evening.