Gaffney Master Patrolman Chris Jones (left), Cherokee County Sheriff’s Deputy Sgt. Todd Parker, S.C. Highway Patrolman Lance Cpl. Johnnie Godfrey, and Blacksburg Patrolman Johnathan Gash were honored for stopping the most drunk drivers during the past year. Four officers were honored Thursday for their efforts to curb drinking and driving.

Cherokee County Sheriff’s Deputy Sgt. Todd Parker, S.C. Highway Patrolman Lance Cpl. Johnnie Godfrey, Gaffney Master Patrolman Chris Jones and Blacksburg Patrolman Johnathan Gash were each honored for making the most drunk driving arrests this past year.

“Most of us say drunk driving is a risk we would never take, but people take that risk all the time,” said Stephanie Boyd of Prime for Life, a curriculum used in the S.C. Alcohol and Drug Safety Action Program (ADSAP). “Most people are less likely to believe that risk applies to them.”

Boyd said approximately 19 percent of people convicted of driving under the influence will commit the crime again. After participating in the mandatory ADSAP classes, that number drops to 8 percent. Motorists must successfully complete ADSAP, a state education and treatment program, to get their South Carolina driver’s license back after being convicted of driving under the influence.

“Without you, they don’t have the opportunity to see things differently,” Boyd said. “Because of you, many of those people are getting help and many of them are changing their behavior.”

Parker has received the ADSAP award four times. Not only does he patrol the county’s roads for the sheriff’s office but he also assists narcotics and interdiction operations.

Godfrey, a Spartanburg County native, also is a past recipient and tallied 45 drunk driving arrests this past year, said Capt. M.S. Wright of the S.C. Highway Patrol. He began working with the Highway Patrol in York County before being transferred to Cherokee County.

Jones made 11 arrests in Gaffney’s city limits, accounting for 25 percent of the drunk driving arrests made by the department. Gaffney Police Chief John O’Donald said it was an honor to present Jones with the award.

Gash has been with the Blacksburg Police Department for two years and chose early on in his life to become a police officer. Blacksburg Police Chief Jamie Ham said Gash used to question him about becoming a police officer every time he visited the store where Gash worked.

“We really wish you didn’t have to do this, and I am sure you wish the same. But we do appreciate you,” said Martha Brock, Cherokee County Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse (CCCADA) Board of Directors Chairperson.

The annual event was sponsored by CCCADA and ADSAP. Two Pigs Catering provided lunch for the officers at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church.