by Malcolm Butler
Derrycka Hall was driving down Farmerville Highway Thursday morning pretty much minding her own business.
All of a sudden Hall saw the dreaded lights of a Lincoln Parish Sheriff’s patrol vehicle in her rearview mirror.
As LPSO patrol deputy Morris Harrison approached her driver’s side window, it was easy to see the look of despair on Hall’s face.
It wouldn’t last long.
After taking Hall’s license, Deputy Harrison returned to his patrol vehicle to retrieve something and it wasn’t a ticket for speeding or unlawful operation or an expired inspection sticker.
Nope. Instead he returned to Hall with a Thanksgiving turkey in his hands.
It’s part of the Turkeys, Not Tickets holiday gesture courtesy of the LPSO and Forth Insurance.
Starting Tuesday and running through yesterday, Lincoln Parish Sheriff’s Officers intentionally pulled vehicles over within the parish for minor traffic violations and instead of writing the drivers a ticket, they pulled out a gobbler.
The reaction of those receiving the turkeys? Well, Hall’s was the perfect illustration.
“You are going to make me cry,” said Hall, wiping away her tears. “Thank you so much. This is such a blessing.”
Sincere words from Hall, who said she moved to Lincoln Parish about four years ago from Ferriday.
Hall was so moved by the gesture that she asked Deputy Harrison as well as Chief Deputy Landon Hunt and Sgt. Iris Winston if she could pray for them. And so standing in the parking lot of In-and-Out Donuts, Hall did exactly that.
It was the perfect illustration of the emotions this type of kind gesture can illicit.
“Instead of giving them a ticket, we give them a turkey,” said Sgt. Winston, who said this Thanksgiving holiday endeavor started in Lincoln Parish in 2019. “We had 100 turkeys that we gave away this year. It’s a sight to see. When you pull someone over they think they are getting a ticket, and are in one frame of mind.
“But when you offer them a turkey, you can just see the relief come over them. We have had so many people that are so thankful.”
What started out as a project by Forth Insurance’s Thomas Graham and some teammates in the Ruston Chamber of Commerce Lincoln Leadership program has turned into an annual “Turkeys not tickets” Thanksgiving gesture. The cost of the turkeys is shared between the LPSO, Forth Insurance and Super One Foods with the LPSO portion coming from the employee fund at no expense to taxpayers.
“We don’t want anyone afraid of us,” said Sgt. Winston. “We want people to know that we are here for them if they need us. We take extra effort in building those relationships with the community.”
“Our community has always been extremely supportive of our office and this project is a great way for our deputies to have a chance to give back,” said Chief Deputy Hunt. ”While seeking to pass a blessing along our fellow citizens, our men and women in uniform receive so much more in return.”
In 2019 Graham was a part of the Lincoln Leadership program and found an opportunity to start something in his community that he had seen in another community.
“I saw this in the paper down in Lake Charles one time when we were down their with my wife and her family,” said Graham. “The state troopers were doing it down there. I always thought Ruston would be the perfect place to do this.”
Derrycka Hall totally agreed.
“You guys have something great going on here,” said Hall, wiping the tears from her eyes.
