SPECIAL OLYMPICS BENEFITS; LOST WAGER PUTS SHERIFF'S STICKER ON CHP CAR.

Byline: Erin Gebroe Daily News Staff Writer

CHP Capt. Pete Mader swallowed his pride, bent down and put the Sheriff's Department sticker on his car.

He never thought he would have to do it. He didn't want to do it. But this honorable law enforcement officer wasn't about to break his word.

Mader paid up Friday on a bet between the Newhall-based California Highway Patrol officers and the Santa Clarita sheriff's station. Whichever agency collected more money for the Special Olympics during the annual Cops and Lobsters fund-raiser got to see its sticker on the other agency captain's car.

A nationwide event in which law enforcement officers help serve diners at Red Lobster restaurants, Cops and Lobsters took place on Feb. 25 and 26, when the CHP set the pace, and March 4 and 5, when sheriff's deputies had their chance. While the CHP raised a respectable $5,000, the sheriff's station came out ahead with $7,000.

Sheriff's Capt. Don Rodriguez watched with pride as Mader painfully put the sticker on his CHP car.

``I'm in a state of shock,'' Mader said, wondering what his CHP officers would say when he rolled back to headquarters with a sheriff's department recruitment sticker on his Ford Crown Victoria. ``I fully expected that he'd have my sticker on his car.''

The rivalry began when CHP Officer Doug Sweeney said that the best thing about last year's Cops and Lobsters was raising more money than the Santa Clarita sheriff's station.

``It just started the competitive flame,'' said sheriff's Lt. Carl Deeley, who came up with the idea for the bet. ``And since it wasn't going to have to go on my car, it was going to have to go on the captain's, there was no loss for me.''

The competition paid off. Last year, the two agencies raised $3,100, nearly $9,000 less than this year.

``The bottom line for this whole thing is what can we do for the Special Olympics,'' Mader said.

Rodriguez said he did everything he could to raise money.

He recruited his family to go to Red Lobster. He helped convince Santa Clarita Mayor Jo Anne Darcy to donate $400. He even agreed to let people mess up his perfectly coiffed hair for $100 a pop.

One man walked into the Red Lobster declaring that he wasn't going to donate anything because the cops gave him a ticket that day. When he pulled out the ticket, officers saw it was from the CHP.

``We said, see, the Highway Patrol gave you the ticket so you can donate to the Sheriff's Department,'' Rodriguez said. And he did.

But more surprising than that donation was the $1,120 from Blue Barrel Disposal division manager Carl McCarthy.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

PHOTO (1 -- color) This Sheriff's Department bumper sticker, applied to the bumper of a California Highway Patrol officer's car, is a payoff resulting from a good-natured bet.

(2 -- color) Sheriff's Capt. Don Rodriguez enjoys watching as CHP Capt. Pete Mader reluctantly places a Sheriff's Department bumper sticker on his car.

Shaun Dyer/Special to the Daily News