Pubdate: Thu, 08 Dec 2005
Source: Quincy Herald-Whig (IL)
Copyright: 2005 Quincy Herald-Whig
Contact:  http://www.whig.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3360
Author: Steve Eighinger, staff writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/dare.htm (D.A.R.E.)

CAR CLUB HELPS SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT

Call it a Christmas gift to the community.

The Early Tin Dusters classic car club is in the final  stages of
refurbishing a 1999 Dodge Intrepid --  complete with a snazzy new
paint job -- to be the first  DARE car for the Adams County Sheriff's
Department.

The car, confiscated in a drug bust, will serve as the  department's
"show car" in its ongoing effort to  impress upon area students the
problems that accompany  drug use. Another local car club, the
Lugnuts, has  worked in recent years on maintaining a car for the 
Quincy Police Department.

Now, both law enforcement agencies will have at their  disposal a DARE
car to help in the fight against  illegal drugs.

"We had been interested in getting a DARE car for some  time, and the
Tin Dusters came forward," Sheriff Brent  Fischer said. "Since the
club deals with cars before  1948, that made it kind of hard to find
(a car) that  could be satisfactorily equipped with what we needed, 
but we had a drug forfeiture vehicle that we felt could  be used. That
seemed kind of fitting."

Denny Milfs of the Early Tin Dusters has served as  project
coordinator for a task that started earlier  this fall. Milfs said
about 10 club members have been  active in restoring the Intrepid.

"We're getting close to being finished," Milfs said.  "We've had a lot
of material and time donated, which  has really helped."

Club member Jim Benz said the Early Tin Dusters talked  about
undertaking such a venture for several years.

"We completely stripped the car down," Benz said.  "There have been
both exterior and interior repairs."

Fischer added, "It will be our show car, our public  relations car.
But it will also be equipped as a police  car, too."

The Early Tin Dusters are best known for their  sponsorship of the
annual Color Run in October when  about 800 classic cars from 1948 and
earlier take over  downtown Quincy.

WHEELING IN

A DARE car is often one of the centerpieces in law  enforcement
seminars about the consequences that can  accompany being caught up in
the drug culture. The  Quincy car will be used in:

* Talks at local schools

* Car shows

* Local parades

"I'm really excited about the possibilities this will  bring to the
department," Adams County Sheriff Brent  Fischer said.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin