Two Wisconsin officers take part in World Games Law Enforcement Torch Run Final Leg for World Games
Picture a dark stadium…filled with 55,000 anxiously awaiting people from around the world…the bright light of the cauldron is about to illuminate the night as the Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics® Final Leg Team concludes their journey by delivering the Flame of Hope™ to the Opening Ceremonies in Boise, Idaho on the evening of February 7, 2009.
An international team of 117 members, including law enforcement officers, Special Olympics athletes and support personnel served as Guardians of the Flame® as they received the Flame of Hope™ in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho on Thursday, January 29. The Final Leg team conducted extensive runs and ceremonies in all of the Host Town Program communities and in many other towns throughout Idaho to heighten awareness of Special Olympics and the World Games.
Representing Wisconsin on the 2009 Final Leg team were Sergeant Steve Janus, Wisconsin Department of Corrections as Wisconsin’s Final Leg Runner; Chief Lisa Walter, UW-Stout Police Department, who was requested to serve as a Running Team Leader and had responsibility for seven other law enforcement runners and one Special Olympics athlete runner; and Julie Buedding, Director of Development for the Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics Wisconsin who served as a Support Team Member.
“Many communities big and small were visited by the Final Leg Team and all were equally as important as the next. Every smile, every flag, every sign, and every speech will be held in my heart forever,” Sergeant Steve Janus said.
Janus has been with the Wisconsin Department of Corrections nearly 13 years and is currently the second shift M.C.S. Sergeant at the Racine Youthful Offenders Correctional Facility. Steve has been involved with Special Olympics for 1 ½ years volunteering at regional games, State Summer Games, and regional events as well as being instrumental in the development of two new fundraising events.
“During the Final Leg of the Special Olympics World Winter Games, it became glaringly obvious,” Chief Lisa Walters said. “It takes a community to continue to enhance the mission of Special Olympics and the Law Enforcement Torch Run. I challenge everyone to attend a Special Olympics event and mingle with our state athletes for a little while. Trust me; you WILL get the spark that will light the flame!”
This was Walter’s second Final Leg experience. She was a runner for the Final Leg of the 2007 World Summer Games in China. She has been in law enforcement for twenty four years with fifteen of them in a University setting. Walters has been actively involved with LETR and Special Olympics Wisconsin for twelve years and was recently appointed to a three year term on the Special Olympics Wisconsin Board of Directors.
“I was so proud to have Steve and Lisa representing Wisconsin on the Final Leg. Their dedication and commitment to the athletes is so evident and we couldn’t have had two finer law enforcement officers sharing their passion with the state of Idaho as they fulfilled their mission of creating awareness and excitement for the 2009 Special Olympics World Winter Games,” said Julie Buedding who served as a Support Team member for the Final Leg Team.
This was Buedding’s third Final Leg experience, having served as a Support Team Member in Iowa for the 2006 Special Olympics National Games and in China for the 2007 Special Olympics World Winter Games.
Buedding encourages law enforcement officers to apply to be on future Final Legs by adding, “You will never forget your days spent participating on the Final Leg team. Lifelong friendships are formed, especially those with the athletes. As the days go on and you get tired from the miles you run, it is the athletes who continue to inspire you. And, it is that inspiration that keeps the Flame of Hope burning in Wisconsin.”
Lisa Walter before the Opening
Ceremony in Idaho
Steve Janus on the Final Leg with Special Olympics Athlete Van Pexa