By Taylor Simmons
McGruff the Crime Dog was honored Friday for spending 25 years teaching children to ?take a bite outta crime.?
Leaders and mothers of the Parent Teacher Association celebrated the dog?s quarter-century birthday during the Utah PTA State Convention at the Wilkinson Student Center.
After making his entrance onto the WSC Ballroom stage, the brown, giant-sized dog thanked the 2,300-member audience for coming to his birthday party.
?Thank you, thank you, thank you, from the bottom of my heart,? McGruff said. ?I don?t feel a day over 175, in dog years, that is.?
McGruff, the crime fighting dog, has influenced children all over the United States to make good decisions.
Alfonso E. Lenhardt, president of the National Crime Prevention Council, attended McGruff?s birthday celebration to kick off a new program that will help community members stretch further to protect children in every school.
Lenhardt said the program, titled ?Catch the vision,? is intended to make parents at ease in their communities and help them understand what their children face at school.
?You need to know when you send your children off to school in the morning that they?re going somewhere safe where they can be cared for,? he said.
Six years after the Columbine High School tragedy, disasters are still prevalent in the nation?s schools, Lenhardt said. Though the media continue to focus on catastrophes in Louisiana, Kentucky, Minnesota and Russia, a potentially deeper and more serious problem is schoolyard bullying.
It?s the bullying in schools that may lead to the more serious crimes, Lenhardt said.
After piloting the new program at schools in Kentucky and Pennsylvania, the campaign has been promoted in 20 other states with hopes to enhance safety and security in public schools, he said.
Better door locks, cameras, staff ID badges and monitoring of schools can help prevent more crime, Lenhardt said.
?Making sure that our children are safe is at the core of the National Crime Prevention Council,? he said.
McGruff is a trusted communicator that helps children stand up for themselves, Lenhardt said. He read several letters children had written to McGruff asking for advice about drugs, smoking and safety. Those students said ?no? to drugs because McGruff had told them to, Lenhardt said.
?McGruff is a caring, trusted friend in their lives,? he said.
Tibby Milne, executive director of the Utah Council for Crime Prevention, said 90 percent of school children know who he is and depend on him.
Milne shared one story of a McGruff-adoring fan who wanted McGruff?s advice. One young boy called his school and asked, ?Is McGruff there?? Upon receiving the answer that McGruff was sleeping, he said, ?Will you tell him David called??
Parents were inspired by the speech and celebration of McGruff and were excited to return to their communities to teach their children about safety.
?It was emotional,? said Jilie Orme, a PTA member at Woodruff Elementary in the Logan City School District. ?This presentation has motivated us.?
McGruff?s nephew Scruff joined him on the stage to help sing ?Happy Birthday? and pass out birthday cake. The two travel all over the country to teach children about safety in their schools and communities.