News: October 2009

The United States Marshals Service Celebrates 220 Years of Service!

Published October 12, 2009

The United States Marshals Service celebrated a Diversity Day Program in Honor of National Hispanic Heritage Month. The program also recognized the Signing of a Memorandum of
Agreement between the United States Marshals Service and the National Latino Peace Officers Association® on the future of law enforcement recruitment.

The United States Marshals Service Celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month 

United States Department of Justice Washington, D.C. Celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month 

Hispanic fest reaches out to both communities — Latinos, others mingle at Freehold event

Published October 6, 2009

By JOSEPH SAPIA
FREEHOLD BUREAU

Standing in the crowd at Saturday’s Latino Festival of Monmouth County, local Hispanic leader Cecilia Reynolds spoke of community as one.

“We (Hispanics) live here, our kids go to the same schools,” said Reynolds, noting the purpose of the festival. “We want people to see our culture. We are very proud of our culture.

“We can enjoy, together,” said Reynolds, who is of Mexican heritage. “It’s good to learn about each other.”

The cultures of various locales — Ecuador, Peru, Mexico, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Puerto Rico and Spain — were represented at festival, which was held in the county Hall of Records parking lot in the downtown. The festival was sponsored by the Latino Leadership Alliance of New Jersey.

But in the spirit of community that Reynolds spoke of, visitors included both Hispanics and non-Hispanics.

Kenda Donahue, 44, of Freehold Township attended with her son, Alex, 6. She is of Irish and Italian heritage, while her son also has French Canadian background.

“Alex got a flier in school from his Spanish teacher and he said he was interested in coming,” Donahue said. “It seems to be family-like, a lot of families.”

Edwina Howell, 69, of Howell and Jerry Ceres, 57, of Colts Neck sought out families with boys interested in joining Cub Scout Pack 107, which is being organized in the borough.

“The timing for the festival was excellent,” said Ceres, noting a pack organizational meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday at the Park Avenue School.

The festival also provided an opportunity to reach out to the Hispanic community. Howell said it is “difficult convincing Latino families” to get involved in Scouting because of a fear of government.

Various participants in the festival spoke of that fear because of situations in their homelands, along with undocumented Hispanics fearing an the American government or police.

Central and South Americans have a distrust of law enforcement, based on memories of their homelands, said Hector Ramos, a state trooper and president of the Latino Peace Officers Association of New Jersey.

One of the most popular attractions at the festival was a children’s identification card program run by Ramos’ association. A lengthy line formed for children to be photographed and thumb-printed and have personal information gathered about them.

The information was immediately processed onto an identification card in case a child disappears. In that situation, a parent can provide the card to police, Ramos said.

With association members processing the cards, it also served as a public relations campaign between the Hispanic community and law enforcement officers — in this case, Hispanic officers.

“There’s an inherent distrust (of police),” Ramos said. “We want to break down these barriers.”

Another bit of public relations was the county’s chief law enforcement officer, Prosecutor Luis A. Valentin, being of Puerto Rican heritage. Valentin addressed the crowd in Spanish.

“This is part of our continuing effort to participate in important cultural events,” Valentin said. “As a Latino, I’m particularly proud to participate and lend assistance.

“This is something we work on every day, to build that level of trust,” Valentin said. “You have to continue to foster relationships with any community.”

Reynolds thanked residents, both Hispanic and non-Hispanic.

“I would like to thank the community for coming here to interact, to learn about us,” Reynolds said. “We see a lot of Latino families, here. We do this for them.”

Source: APP.com/Asbury Park Press