Local dealership steps up to help restore DARE car

Students from the Automotive Technology Academy at Manalapan High School examine the Manalapan Police Department's DARE car. Police said a DARE car helps draw the attention of youths, and once they come over to inspect the vehicle, the DARE officers can begin to educate teens and adolescents about the dangers of drugs, alcohol and tobacco.

MANALAPAN - Officers from the Manalapan Police Department's Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program are looking for some volunteer automotive talent that will help them achieve an important goal.

If the reaction of the students from the Freehold Regional High School District's Automotive Technology Academy at Manalapan High School is any indication, the officers can expect to get both the literal and figurative mileage they hoped to get from the 1987 Pontiac Firebird that has been known as the department's DARE car since police took possession of the vehicle through a drug forfeiture one year ago.

Manalapan DARE officers Joe Felicia and Kim Whitehill were at Freehold GMC Pontiac, Route 9, recently to meet with automotive technology teacher Bill Stivale and his students.

DARE is a program that is geared to teaching youngsters the dangers of drug, alcohol and tobacco abuse, Felicia explained. He and Whitehill have both spent the last five years mentoring 12-year-olds in the DARE program that is taught in the Manalapan-Englishtown Regional School District.

Both officers said the program helps to reinforce good decision making.

Felicia said that as part of the program the officers talk with students about today's problems, peer pressure and related adolescent issues.

The two officers were at the Pontiac dealership on Nov. 15 to take advantage of the generosity of service manager Billy Marter, whom Felicia had run into at a car show at the high school about a month earlier. Felicia said he told Marter about the 1987 Firebird.

Felicia said once Marter heard about the officers' idea to use the car to attract youths to hear the DARE message, he volunteered the services of the dealership to help restore the vehicle.

"The car would have just sat there without them (the dealership)," Whitehill said.

Mechanical repairs to the vehicle have been completed and it is the finishing embellishments such as paint, decals, rims, tires and stereo equipment that are needed along with the expertise to install those items.

Marter said his boss, owner Robert Thugut, was "behind the project 100 percent from the time I told him about it."

Felicia said the car will be displayed at DARE events in the community and at the annual DARE convention in Atlantic City.

He said a DARE car such as this draws the attention of youths and once they come over to inspect the vehicle, the officers can begin their work - which is to educate teens and adolescents to the dangers of drugs, alcohol and tobacco.

Whitehill said the police department was not surprised by Marter's willingness to get involved in this project.

"Freehold GMC Pontiac has done a lot for our program and we are really appreciative," the officer said.

Felicia said the police department would truly appreciate anyone who can provide the items that are needed to finish restoring the car or the expertise to do the work.

"The DARE program exists because of the generosity of other people," he said.

The Manalapan Police Department may be reached at (732) 446-4300.

- Kathy Baratta