ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, July 26, 1996 TAG: 9607260052
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: LISA K. GARCIA STAFF WRITER note:below
A VISIT BY McGRUFF the crime dog made one bank customer turn tail.
That was no robber, ma'am; that was McGruff, the 6-foot, trench coat-cloaked, canine crime fighter.
A woman who saw a police car and crime van parked with blue lights flashing in front of a bank branch in Blacksburg took a 10-mile detour to avoid stopping at what she thought was a bank robbery.
What she failed to notice Wednesday were the helium-filled balloons tied to the vehicles' antennas.
That's right, McGruff and his pals from the Blacksburg Police Department had scared off a bank customer.
Jaque Akers, a customer service representative in Central Fidelity National Bank's main office on East Main Street in Christiansburg, said the woman came to her branch and sat at her desk while Akers called the Blacksburg branch on South Main Street.
The woman told her, "I was afraid that place was being robbed or something," Akers said.
Angie Scott, a teller in Blacksburg, answered Akers' query of "anything going on over there?"
"I knew right away what she was referring to," Scott said. "I told her it was nothing scary, it's not a robbery, just McGruff fingerprinting kids."
Police did the same program last year. Several branches called that day, too, Scott said.
Akers said the woman was good-natured about the outcome.
"She just sort of chuckled and said she was glad to hear nothing was wrong," Akers said.
The flashing lights also caused some inconvenience for Christopher Schultz, a Virginia Tech student.
Schultz told the police he was driving past the bank on his way to his auto insurance agent's office when the police vehicles caught his attention, according to Officer C.D. Eades. When Schultz looked back in his lane, the traffic ahead of him had halted and he didn't have time to stop before he hit a van.
Schultz was on his way to deliver a report card attesting to a grade-point average high enough for the insurance company's good-student discount, Eades said..he said he turned his attention to the
Eades said Schultz told police that when he looked back in his lane
He went home with a citation for following too closely.
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