Branford Cops Raise $14,000 For Special Olympics

This past weekend in New Haven over 2,500 athletes and 500 coaches from across the state gathered to hold the Special Olympics Games at Southern Connecticut State University.

As 3,000 volunteers worked the Special Olympics event over the weekend, Branford cops did the same on their end, orchestrating a series of events and one or two new ones, including the unveiling of the Dunk-A-Cop event (pictured above). The purpose: To raise funds for the Special Olympics.
In the cage: Officer David Atkinson.

Sgt. Stosh Konesky and his partner Officer Joe Herten, the department’s newest organizers, were thrilled with the results of their first effort. 

“This is the first year we organized it and we decided to do a little bit more than we have done in the past,” Konesky said. ​“So we decided to incorporate the adopt-a-mile, where we go around to local businesses and ask them to donate $100.00. They help put up signs around town that say all donations go to the Special Olympics. During the adopt-a-mile we raised $3,250. Wal-Mart gave us $2,500 and Woodwinds chipped in $500.”

“We wanted to give back to the community, this is where I live, where I have lived my entire life and it is time that we as a department start giving back. We don’t do that many events for the community and this is one we really wanted to focus on. So we decided to do the first annual dunk-a-cop,” he told the Eagle. Officer Melissa Carney, (pictured) who recently joined the police department, took the event in stride.

To get kids involved in Dunk-A-Cop and face painting and meeting various curious creatures, Konesky asked Coastal Wine & Liquors and the Meat House, centrally located at Main and Cedar Streets if the new event might take place in their parking lot. They agreed.

More than 150 people turned out, including scores of kids who learned about the event after Konesky and Herten delivered flyers to the town’s three elementary schools. About 55 kids showed up. Two of them were amazed when they came upon the curious creatures.

The snake was a big hit. 

So were other creatures. Like this one.

And this one.

Sometimes they shared a creature.

Mostly they were in awe to be up close and in contact with a curious creature. 

Dunking-A-Cop

Here’s how the dunk-a-cop tank works. The cop sits in a small tank, whose seat is high up. Kids and adults get to throw a yellow soft ball at a button. If they hit the button, then the seat collapses and the cop gets dunked in the water. The ball is fairly large and the kids seem to have the advantage. 

Besides Dunk-A-Cop, there was Tip-A-Cop, a traditional event held each year at Lenny’s restaurant. Cops wait on patrons and the tips go to the Special Olympics fund.

The final event, the road race was scheduled for last Friday, a one-mile race that was supposed to start at 2:27 p.m. at Bill Miller’s restaurant in Branford and end at the East Haven town line at 3:45 p.m. Usually it is held rain-or-shine, but the rain was so fierce that day that the race was called off. 

Overall Konesky and Herten did very well, collecting a total of $14,000 for all the events leading up to the Special Olympics, Konesky said. 

“This year my partner and I had a couple of goals in mind and so far we have hit every single goal. We are looking forward to doing it bigger and better next year,” Konesky said.

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