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.