Cheers Greet Torch Trek to Special Games

With the Olympic theme blaring, Jeff Watlington of Ventura climbed the steps of Ventura City Hall on Thursday morning, wearing a jogging outfit, green baseball cap and broad grin.

Accompanied by a motorcycle escort and a squadron of police officers clapping a metronomic beat for each step, the fortysomething Special Olympian with Down’s syndrome had jogged up the California Street hill to reach Mayor Jack Tingstrom and a waiting crowd.

Upon his arrival, Watlington turned to salute the cheers that rang out as he proudly held the burning torch aloft. It was an Olympic moment.

“He gets fired up,” said Bob Martin, assistant area director for Ventura County Special Olympics.

The torch passed through Ventura County on Thursday en route from Sacramento to the annual Special Olympics Summer Games that begin today at UCLA’s Drake Stadium.

About 150 law enforcement representatives carried the torch along 46 miles of county roads before handing it off to their Los Angeles County counterparts at the county line on Pacific Coast Highway. Some of the 90 Special Olympic athletes and their coaches ran too.

“I like being with all the police officers,” said Vincent Peterson, 24, a mentally disabled Ojai resident and Special Olympics spokesman who jogged two miles Wednesday carrying the 4-pound torch south from the Santa Barbara County line. “The torch is pretty heavy.”

At the brief City Hall ceremony, Tingstrom and other civic dignitaries lauded the athletes and the more than 200 Ventura County law enforcement officials who raised almost $7,000 over the last month to support the Special Olympics. Fourteen local police agencies participated this year--more than ever before, said Renee Gomez, area director.

“It’s the most pure form of giving back to the community that there is,” said Tom Kitchens, 46, an investigator in the district attorney’s office and a marathon runner. “It really makes you feel good.”

The runners received a motorcycle escort along the route. A 47-member sheriff’s academy class, accompanied by a sheriff’s helicopter buzzing overhead, carried the torch for the last leg. Even though some of the Special Olympians can run only about half a mile, their enthusiasm and determination to meet the physical challenge are inspiring, Martin said.

“The feeling that you get and the kind of warm fuzzies that you get from the athletes makes everything worthwhile,” he said. “It’s a pretty special job.”