BRIGHTON – Two cars drove on the sidewalk outside the Brighton Police Department Friday afternoon.
    The police were on hand to give their OK.
    It was OK to cry tears of joy, too.
    One of those cars belonged to Alexis Croteau of Brighton. Her 2000 Hyundai Accent was damaged during an early morning car-fire spree Sept. 24.
    Her mother, Kathy, got a new Pontiac Grand Am. Her old car, a 1995 Chrysler LeBaron, was destroyed during that same incident.
    “It’s beautiful,” she said. “I may sleep in it tonight.
    “But not in my driveway.”
    Her car and her daughter’s were parked in the driveway of their home just west of Brighton High School when the car-fire spree began. Seven families’ cars were either damaged or destroyed.

    Brighton police Officer Robin Wilson, who has known the Croteau family for several years, started making some calls to see if someone could help.
    “Her daughter baby-sat mine,” Wilson said. “I knew she was a single mom with two kids. She didn’t have insurance. I knew Brighton was a generous community. They have always stood by me. I thought there was some way to get support for them.”
    Friends loaned her vehicles. Alexis Croteau needed some way to go back and forth to beauty school in Thornton. Kathy Croteau needed a car to get back and forth to work at BHS.
    She borrowed her father’s truck.
    “Dad will be glad to get his truck back,” she laughed.
    GO Automotive provided the repairs and the replacement transportation. Joe Negri, who works for the business and is a lieutenant in the police department’s volunteer unit, said his company is big but not too big to help someone in need.
    “We have an emergency group for things like this,” he said. “We feel obligated to give something back to the community.”    
    The car dealer’s collision center repaired Alexis Croteau’s car. Kathy Croteau’s car was totaled, so the dealer supplied a replacement.
    “We looked at the photos of the cars after the fire,” Negri said. “It’s a miracle the house didn’t burn to the ground. It was atrocious. It was frightening, and it was an easy decision for us to make.”
    The car came from the GO dealership at Interstate 25 and the Boulder Turnpike.
    “Bad things happen to good people,” Negri said. “It’s what you make of it that’s more important.”
    If the Croteaus needed a reason to sing the praises about living in a small town, the past few weeks did the trick.
    “It’s been so cool,” Kathy Croteau said. “So many people came forward and asked if we needed anything. Neighbors I haven’t talked to in 15 years asked if we needed help. We had block parties. Every day, someone would ask me, ‘What’s going on? “Do you need anything?’
    “People are good,” she concluded. “It’s overwhelming.”