Memorial run attracts multitude of local youth

MOUNT ARLINGTON – Despite a steady, sometimes heavy rain, more than 200 men, women and children turned out for the third annual Joe Wargo Memorial 5K Run/Walk, Saturday, October 4.
Proceeds from this year’s event helped raise $1,500 for the Community Youth Initiatives, a partnership within the schools to support youth programs in the borough.
“We have a wonderful partnership with the schools,” said police chief Keith Licata, the event coordinator. Close to thirty local youths, all between the ages of 8 and 12, participated in the 5K event, said Licata.
The Joe Wargo Memorial 5K was conceived three years ago as a way to honor the borough police officer who died October 16, 2011 while on patrol. Each year the event raises money for a different local organization.
For Jessica Suto of Rockaway, walking to honor the memory of Wargo, “a close family friend,” was the least she could do, despite recently having a medical procedure to combat arthritis.
“I was not, not going to do this,” said Suto as she hobbled with the aid of a cane along Mount Arlington Blvd. “It’s rough but I have an angle watching over me.”
Licata said he was please with the turnout, with more than 100 people signing up the morning of the event, even with the bad weather.
“We have a good number of people here and an especially good number of young people,” he said.