"STOP THE VIOLENCE" POSTER WINNER

Dothan Police spend a big part of their time keeping our schools safe from violence, and with that in mind, last year, police gave students the theme, "Stop the Violence". They challenged them to either write an essay or design a T-shirt to give officers some good ideas. Since then, they`ve received over 200 posters alone from middle and high school students, and more than 500 essays....now officers have finally chosen their winner, and yesterday, they met with her. The winner was seventh grader Abbey White of Carver Magnet School. Abbey`s ideas included honesty, walking away when angry, and being encouraging, among other points. Police say that`s some awfully good advice. Lt. Antonia Gonzales of the DPD, said, "we took their ideas, read every essay, looked at artwork, implemented more curriculum this year...giving interaction and talking with each other as well as the teachers and more ideas on how they feel, including being `bullied`." Carver Magnet School will receive a trophy from the Police Department, thanks to Abbey`s T-shirt. This actually isn`t the first award she has received for her creativity...she also won something from this year`s National Peanut Festival.