SOME HOT WHEELS

TAUNTON - There's nothing like mixing business with pleasure -
particularly the kind that benefits a community.

Last year Rick Mastria's Mastria Auto Group of Raynham donated one of
its rental fleet cars to the Raynham Police Department, which put it
to use it as an unmarked vehicle.

This year the dealership extended its gesture of goodwill by donating
a used Buick Park Avenue four-door sedan to the Taunton Police Department.

That car is now the department's official D.A.R.E. vehicle.

(Drug Abuse Resistance Education is a national program that teaches
kids to avoid the pitfalls of drugs, gangs and violence as a means of
conflict resolution.)

This makes Lynne Pina - the city's designated D.A.R.E. officer - quite
happy. If not for Mastria's largesse she would still be driving her
own car, as she makes the rounds of teaching 27 fifth-grade classes
within city's the school system.

"It's really excellent - it's a nice riding car," she said.

Pina, 43, has been a Taunton cop for 19 years, the first nine of which
were spent working a standard night shift patrol. She's been the
D.A.R.E. officer for 10 years, and for the last nearly four years has
been using her personal car on the job.

Now she's got a vehicle that not only provides a reliable means of
transportation but functions as an eye-catching promotional tool for
her school curriculum.

What was once just another Park Avenue has been outfitted with a
standard police radio and "light bar" - the roof-mounted flashing
lights one normally sees on police cars.

More importantly, Pina said, are the numerous and noticeable D.A.R.E.
decals plastered across the hood and sides. The logos and slogans, she
said, serve to remind everyone of the importance of the anti-drug,
anti-violence program.

"I talk to kids who say "'Hey, we saw it!'" Pina said. "It puts a
little bug in their head."

Except for the new lettering, two-way radio and light bar, the car has
not been altered. It lacks the usual prisoner "cage" separating driver
from suspect, and can't accelerate as quickly as a normal police cruiser.

What it does have is "an enormous trunk," said Ed Ferreira, chief
operating officer for Mastria Auto Group - all the better to transport
Pina's lesson materials and props.

Ferreira said both rental cars donated over the past two years had
about 100,000 miles on their respective odometers.

"They're well-maintained and in great shape," he said.

Ferreira also said Mastria - which includes Buick, Pontiac, GMC,
Nissan, Saturn and Subaru - will likely continue donating a rental car
each year, "as to the need" of any local police department.

He also noted that 98 percent of the company's sales are generated
from within a radius of 10 to 15 miles.

"We want to keep it local," he said of the car donation program.