LEBANON, Tenn. (WKRN) — A trail of destruction, leveling homes and damaging businesses, can be seen for miles in Mayfield, KY following the deadly weekend tornado. It’s a familiar sight for the Lebanon police chief who lived through the March 3rd, 2020 tornado outbreak.
“There are still places in Lebanon from our tornadoes that are still requiring help to this day,” said Chief Mike Justice.
This is why when images showed the city of Mayfield destroyed, Justice knew his department could help. “Some of our staff met yesterday to brainstorm ideas what we needed for an immediate need after our devastating tornados.”
Debris litters streets, often damaging tires. “The first comment was, we have a lot of tires, let’s see what kind of cars they have,” the Chief said.
After trying for hours to contact the Mayfield Police, Chief Justice finally got through. “They told us tires were great, but they didn’t have cars to put them on.”
Plan B.
“We looked through our inventory and we did have three cars that were dead-lined for us because of mileage, however, we felt like for a short-term need they would be perfect,” Justice said.
A local shop, Advance Signs & Graphics donated their time to change the decals. “So when they got there, they could pull them off the trailer, and go straight to work,” Justice said.
In a matter of hours following the initial call, the cruisers were loaded up and ready to roll. But first, an impromptu prayer. “We wanted to send those cars up there with protection,” Chief Justice said.
When the cruisers arrived he explained, “I think it was a little bit unbelievable when our officers got there last night and delivered them. I think shock would be a word that they used.”
A generous act from a community that understands.
“It’s important to know that the Lebanon Police Department didn’t give those cars to the Mayfield Police Department,” Justice explained. “The City of Lebanon did, the residents, the taxpayers, they delivered that donation.”
