HERO - Chris Baber

On the morning of Friday, March 3, Laurie and Roddy Lowrie, from Weatherford, Texas, took a picture in front of the Lauray’s Angel Wings mural on Mountain Street. Not long after going into a nearby store, Mrs. Lowrie realized she had forgotten her purse at the mural. Hurrying back, they discovered it was already gone. Fortunately, Toddy Pitard, owner of Lauray’s the Diamond Center, caught the entire situation on one of his security cameras. The footage showed that shortly after the Lowrie’s walked away, a City vehicle with a water tank drove by. The driver noticed the purse on the curb and picked it up. 

Pitard called the Hot Springs Action Line in hopes of tracking down the vehicle in order to get the purse returned. After a few phone calls to different departments, the unknown hero was discovered. 

It was CHRIS BABER, City of Hot Springs’ Parks and Trails greenhouse manager, who had been performing his checks of the downtown median plant life. Assuming that it had fallen off the top of a passing vehicle, Baber was headed to the police department to turn it in. However, on his way to the police department, he received a phone call that the owner of the lost purse was at Lauray’s. Once Chris arrived, the Lowrie’s embraced him in a hug and offered much appreciation. With awareness of Baber and the quick thinking of Pitard, Public Information Coordinator Katie Yamauchi and Parks and Trails Director Anthony Whittington, the whole situation took less than 30 minutes to be resolved.