SALTing away the holidays

When TJ Jackson heard his raffle ticket called, he hollered as instructed.

"Yahoo!" he said, speculating with the friends at his table what he might do with the body butter package he'd just won during the annual Seniors and Lawmen Together Christmas Party at the Fraternal Order of Eagles in Cape Girardeau.

In reality, the body butter would likely be shared with his wife, Marlene, but both of them were more excited to see the police officer who delivered the prize from the stage to their table. Cape Girardeau police Sgt. Joey Hann, now an exceedingly burly man in blue, was once a kid who lived on their street, friends with their twin sons, Jeff and Scott.

Hann greeted the couple like the old friends they were.

"I used to go to their house after school because she had the best snacks," he said.

US Marshal John Jordan, left, kisses Lucille Dannenmueller on the cheek to celebrate her turning 100 earlier this year during the annual Seniors and Lawmen Together Christmas Party Thursday at the Fraternal Order of Eagles in Cape Girardeau.

It was precisely the sort of reunion event organizers like Doug Austin had hoped to foster by throwing the Christmas party.

"The problem we're trying to overcome," Austin said, "is that most of the time, when a senior citizen interacts with law enforcement, it's a very highly emotional moment in their lives, someone may have died or, well, maybe someone got a speeding ticket. [SALT] wanted to start this to be an environment that's the complete opposite. We want seniors to feel like they can call a [police officer] and ask them any questions they feel like."

And after reminiscing about when their kids were young, Marlene Jackson said she is always happy to see Hann and his colleagues.

"Thinking of him as a kid, I never knew what he was gonna be," she said, obviously teasing Hann. "But I'm proud to see that he's a police officer and I'm very thankful to know he's keeping us safe."

For some officers like Arman Clark of the Cape Girardeau, it was the first time experiencing the event, which began in 2005.

A performer dressed as Elvis Presley performs to more than 300 area seniors citizens during the annual Seniors and Lawmen Together Christmas Party on Thursday at the Fraternal Order of Eagles in Cape Girardeau.

"This is really cool," he said. "I really like being able to meet people and you get to make them feel safe."

Plus there was live entertainment in the form of an Elvis impersonator and, of course, Santa Claus.

In all, more than 300 area seniors attended the event, clapping and singing along to the music and socializing with officers from a variety of local agencies.

And by Austin's metric, it seemed to be a success. The crowd and officers enjoyed one another's company.

"I love giving back to my community," said Cape Girardeau police officer Madison Kirn. "I love interacting with people like this; they're very grateful and we're very grateful for them."