Special Olympics Torch Run Goes Through Monroe

Masuk High School Assistant Principal Joe Kobza, Chalk Hill School Principal Bruce Lazar and Paul Moyse did stretching exercises on the lawn outside the Monroe Police Department on a hot Friday morning, as police officers wearing shorts and T-shirts assembled along the driveway for the town's leg of the Special Olympics Connecticut Torch Run.

Sgt. Pete Howard organized the run in day three of the Special Olympics' opening ceremonies.

Police vehicles with flashing lights, a pick up truck and bicycle officers from surrounding towns and state universities escorted Monroe police officers and educators who ran from Monroe Turnpike to Marisa's Ristorante in Trumbull, where the torch was handed off to runners from the Trumbull Police Department.

The torch relay would end in New Haven at 5 p.m. Then at 7 p.m., members of different police departments in the state will assemble in the Southern Connecticut State University gymnasium for the opening ceremonies. A Special Olympics athlete and State Police Lt. Paul Vance will light the cauldron to get the games underway.

Town employees and some families cheered Monroe's runners on as they left the Monroe Town Hall parking lot with the lit torch. A large crowd of children gathered at Monroe Elementary School waited to cheer them on further along the route.