Seattle Sun Newspaper - Vol. 7, Issue 10, October 2003

Copyright 2003 Seattle Sun. Please feel free to use the article below in your research. Be sure to cite the Seattle Sun as your source.

Camper with a cause:

cop raises coins for kids

By CLAYTON PARK

Doug Harris has heard all the jokes about cops and doughnuts. He even admits to occasionally indulging in the sugary treats himself.

But the Seattle Police sergeant denies that doughnuts have a stronger pull on law enforcement officers than those in other professions.

"I think most normal people like doughnuts," he says. "Cops are just normal people who are out in the public."

The myth, he says, comes from the days when patrol officers working in the middle of the night used to take their breaks in doughnut shops because they were the only places open.

Of course, that doesn't explain why Harris was so quick to volunteer to spend 48 hours camping on top of the Krispy Kreme doughnut shop on North 125th Street and Aurora Avenue North the weekend of Sept. 12-14.

The purpose of the stunt, he explained, was to raise money for good cause: the upcoming Special Olympics.

Harris, who spoke with the Seattle Sun at the halfway mark of his camping adventure, said he only ate three doughnuts by that point, even though a Krispy Kreme customer brought him a dozen that morning. "They're awfully good, but I'll get sick if I eat too many," said Harris who gave the rest away.

The idea for the fund-raising stunt, he said, came from a civilian employee with the Seattle Police Department, Connie Smith, who heard that an officer with the Edmonds Police who each year sits on atop a grocery store for charity. "We tweaked it to play off the cop/doughnut thing," Harris said. Krispy Kreme officials, who readily agreed to host the officer on the roof of its Aurora store, suggested naming the event "Cops on Donut Shops."

Harris's camping stint began at noon on Friday and lasted until noon on Sunday. He said the reception from the public was overwhelmingly positive with many saying they had never been to Krispy Kreme but came after seeing news reports about his stunt on television.

He collected donations by lowering a plastic bucket tied to a fishing pole to customers entering and leaving the store. He said kids, especially, got a kick out of seeing him on the roof.

"They see the fishing pole go up and keep begging mom and dad for more money" to donate, he said.

Several of Harris's co-workers also visited the Krispy Kreme to cheer him on and donate money.

Harris, whose only source of entertainment that weekend was a portable MP3 player, said if he needed something to drink or eat, he would call friends to pick up an order from one of the neighboring restaurants, including the recently opened Jack in the Box, next door to Krispy Kreme.

Harris also brought with him a case of bottled water, a folding camping chair, and a sleeping bag, but had a rough time sleeping the first night because he forgot to bring a pad for the sleeping bag.

He said his goal was to raise $1,000 that weekend. By Saturday evening, he had nearly achieved that mark.

Clayton La Fontaine, one of the managers of the Aurora Krispy Kreme store, said hosting Harris was "cool experience. It's definitely different than anything we've ever done for the community."