USHER FIX

Trina Scott, her daughters, R & B singer Usher and and “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” designer Michael Moloney film a segment outside the Clarksville Police headquarters, where a COPS mural was revealed to the family Thursday night.

The Scott family get hugs from R&B star Usher and stars of the ABC-TV show “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” Friday after finally seeing their new Woodlawn home.

A 16-foot painted COPS mural on the side of the Clarksville Police headquarters was revealed to the Scott family Thursday night. Trina Scott is president of a COPS chapter. Her husband, David, was killed in the line of duty in 2002.

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Apparently the home wasn’t the only thing given a makeover.

With the help of R&B star Usher, “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” unveiled one of the show’s many surprises to Trina Scott and her family: a two-story mural, newly painted on the side of the Clarksville Police Department headquarters. The mural features a Clarksville police officer badge emblazoned with the letters C.O.P.S. in a black band across the front, in honor of the group Concerns of Police Survivors, of which Scott is a chapter president. 

The group provides resources to help surviving family members of law enforcement officers who are killed in the line of duty.

Trina Scott’s husband, David, was killed in the line of duty in 2002.

The mural is 16 feet in diameter, with a 3-by-10 foot box below it showing the words, “‘Remember, Honor and Support’ — Concerns of Police Survivors.”

A crowd of nearly 400 — made up of Clarksville police officers, Tennessee state troopers, volunteers and accidental passersby — waited more than two hours to be on hand for the unveiling, and the return of the Scott family from their Disneyland vacation in California.

The crowd was not deterred by a light drizzle.

“I can’t say anything to thank you,” said a tearful Scott, as the TV cameras rolled. “To C.O.P.S.: You’re my family.”

Usher, who spent the day helping with the construction of the Scotts’ home-to-be, made a “special announcement” regarding C.O.P.S. at the event, though show representatives asked that The Leaf-Chronicle not divulge it.

Jennifer Thacker, national president of C.O.P.S., said the group had members of close to 20 families from 10 states on hand.

“When they (the show’s producers) were getting ready to surprise her (Scott), they contacted us shortly before and invited us to come out here,” Thacker said.

The mural itself was a collaborative effort of a number of local artists. Michael Cooper of Nashville, with the help of his wife Mickie, took the lead in the project. Cooper had previously painted a mural at the Clarksville YMCA’s indoor pool 10 years ago.

Cooper said his answering machine had a joking message imploring callers to call his cell at any time if they need an “emergency mural.” One of the show’s producer took him up on the offer with a middle-of-the-night phone call.

“It’s very rare you run into an emergency mural, but I think this one qualified,” Cooper said.

Lynne Griffey, a former art teacher at Northeast Elementary School, was involved in the project from the beginning, and she recruited her former art student, Caitlin Ladd, to help. Ladd is a freshman at Austin Peay State University.

Clarksville residents Marissa Fulford and Angel Johnson rounded out the mural volunteers. The group began work Sunday afternoon to have the project done in time for Thursday’s filming.

Brady Connell, the show’s executive producer, went out of his way to say thank you for the welcome he’d received in Clarksville.

“It’s been one of the most pleasant experiences we have ever had working with a community,” Connell said. “Part of it’s been the Clarksville Police Department being so cooperative.”

Source: Theleafchronicle.com