GRAVETTE -- The holiday season is all about giving and this year the Gravette Police Department definitely got involved in the spirit of the season. From Dec. 18, 2015, through Jan. 4, 2016, the department handed out 28 gift cards to area motorists. The cards were given to people who were residents of the Gravette area and who either committed no driving infractions or very minor infractions that were considered not worthy of a citation.
Motorists were quite surprised to be the subject of a traffic stop and then to receive a gift card rather than a ticket or a fine. Gloria Gogarty, of Gravette, was very concerned when she was stopped.
"I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong," she said. "I was sure I wasn't speeding."
Gogarty was relieved and pleased when she was given a $25 gift card to Teasley Drug. She was on her way to take her husband, Joe, for his dialysis treatment when she saw the blue lights flashing. She praised the Gravette police department and emergency medical technicians, saying they had been of great help on several occasions when she had called 911 for Joe's medical emergencies.
Jeff Mortensen, another Gravette motorist, was also pleasantly surprised when he learned he was not guilty of a driving infraction. Mortensen was driving his vintage 1955 Chevy, which might have helped attract the officer's attention, and was pretty worried when the policeman told him they'd been watching him for quite some time. He was happy to receive the $25 Arvest Bank gift card which he could spend wherever he wanted.
Andy Bower, Gravette's police chief, said he and Gravette mayor Kurt Maddox had talked about the gift card program for several months. Maddox made arrangements for the program and Bower advised his officers to also take apparent financial need into account, such as stopping drivers who might need help fixing a broken taillight or other minor defect in their vehicle.
Eight of the gift cards were donated by Arvest Bank, eight by Teasley Drug and 12 by an anonymous donor. Each card was worth $25. Bower said each gift card transaction was recorded and the traffic stops were otherwise handled normally.
The Gravette Police Department expressed thanks to Arvest Bank, Teasley Drug and the third donor for making the program possible. "Given recent events, programs like this allow us to show that even though our officers have a job to do, they still have a human side. We enjoy the 'Holiday Spirit' as much as everybody else!" Bower said.
Community on 01/20/2016