by Malcolm Butler
Jesse Lynn Mayfield was one of the parish residents over the last two days to receive a blessing after being pulled over for a traffic violation by members of the Lincoln Parish Sheriff’s Office.
Blue lights in his rearview mirror, Mayfield pulled his car over to the side of the road.
And after a short interaction with Lincoln Parish Sheriff’s Deputy Dereck Johnston, Mayfield discovered the good news.
Mayfield, a 65-year-old resident of Grambling, called it what it was.
“It’s a blessing,” said Mayfield Wednesday morning.
The blessing came in the form of a turkey.
For the seventh straight year, the Lincoln Parish Sheriff’s Office partnered with Forth Insurance and Super One Foods to hand out 100 frozen birds to random residents.
It’s all part of the “Turkey’s, not Tickets” event that has become an annual event around Thanksgiving.
“Turkeys not Tickets is small but meaningful way for our deputies to remind our citizens that we truly care about them, and will always be there to help in a time of need,” said Chief Deputy Landon Hunt.
What started out as a project by Forth Insurance’s Thomas Graham and some teammates in the Ruston Chamber of Commerce Lincoln Leadership program seven years ago has turned into an annual Thanksgiving goodwill 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 are grateful for Super One Foods and Thomas and Randy Graham at Forth insurance for their continued partnership on this project,” said Hunt. “Thomas’ group of Lincoln Leadership helped start the program in 2019 and it something that employees at both our agencies look forward to each year. Our employees get just as much joy in return, you can see it in the smile on their faces.”
Mayfield, who said he was 65 years old, was pulled over in Grambling Wednesday mid-morning. Thinking he was about to receive a ticket from Deputy Johnston, instead he received the frozen fowl.
“You just have to smile,” said Mayfield, grinning from ear to ear. “Always smile. This is such a blessing.”
Deputies from the department shared the joyous responsibility over the last two days of finding their “lucky” customers, all who had committed some sort of traffic violation.
“It’s a great opportunity for us to bless local families in our community and continue to build those positive relationships during the holidays,” said Hunt.
And to deliver small blessings.
