Fred Martin President Adam Huff, interim Police Chief John Dalessandro and dealership General Manager Tom Dunn show off the new D.A.R.E. truck the company donated Oct. 6.
From The Post Newspapers.
NORTON – For the sixth time in a decade, the Fred Martin Superstore on Barber Road signed over a brand new vehicle Oct. 6 to be used by the police department’s Drug Abuse Resistance Education program.
Fred Martin President Adam Huff said he remembered the department’s first D.A.R.E. vehicle.
“It was because the vehicle they were using wouldn’t run,” Huff said. “They had to jump it. Why would a kid want to be a cop when they couldn’t even start the car?”
Norton didn’t have a formal D.A.R.E. program at the time and the vehicle they were using had been seized in a robbery.
Huff said he and then-Police Chief Greg Carris came to an arrangement. The police department would provide the manpower and Fred Martin the vehicle for a full-fledged D.A.R.E. program. In a bit of symmetry, current interim Chief John Dalessandro, who retrieved the new 2014 Dodge Ram pickup truck, was chosen as the department’s first D.A.R.E. officer. Detective Larry Lane fills the role currently.
“I’m extremely pleased at the support Fred Martin has given to our D.A.R.E. program,” Dalessandro said.
“It’s our way of giving back to the community,” company treasurer Duane Huff said. “We want to help keep our children off drugs.”
Fred Martin donates a vehicle every year, which replaces one given two years previously, putting each one on a two-year rotation. This truck replaces the D.A.R.E. truck already in use. The D.A.R.E. Jeep Wrangler will be up next.
“We’ll also use it every day for patrol operations,” Dalessandro said. “We always make it a fully functional cruiser to complement our fleet.”
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