To the Editor:

I have read recent articles in The Tidewater News about Franklin Police getting more involved in the community. I think that it is a wonderful thing. Our community as a whole should have a more trusting relationship with our police who are there to protect and serve. Capt. Whitt said it best in the article, “Franklin police hand out Christmas gifts” (Wednesday, Dec. 30), when he stated, “Our officers care very much about the community they serve and they are extremely passionate about the job they do.”

This statement holds true when I reflect back to the night before Christmas eve, when my daughter and I headed out to the grocery store to pick up the last few items we needed to prepare our Christmas dinner. Not realizing how saturated the ground was from all the rain, my daughter goes to make a u-turn in our yard and, lo and behold, her big Ford Expedition get stuck in the mud.

After making several attempts to free ourselves from the mud we gave up and decided to reach out to relatives and friends. I called my co-worker Shana and she suggested that I call the police and gave me the non-emergency number to call.

With a little hesitation I called and a very pleasant dispatcher came on the phone. I explained to her what had happened and she told me that she would have an officer call me back. I have to admit that I was reluctant that I would get a response.

About 10 minutes later my doorbell rings and there were a couple of officers standing at my door. I explained to them what happened and they immediately went to work trying to figure out what was the best thing to do. They each took turns getting in the truck hoping to get the truck out of the mud but to no avail. So they decided to call on a friend that they knew with a truck equipped to pull our truck out.

He arrives about 10 minutes later. He gets out of his truck, pulls off his shirt and cap and gets down on the ground in all that mud, ties his rope to our truck and in less than five minutes our truck was finally freed from the muddy mess.

My daughter and I were overjoyed with tears to see such a display of diligence from people we had never met. I would personally like to thank Sgt. Mark Cornell, Officer Stephanie Sumpter and Dustin Sykes for all their help that night and for showing us such compassion. We wish you a happy and prosperous new year. May God bless each of you.

Loretta Lomax
Franklin