VALDOSTA — Patricia Coleman has been a crossing guard on Fry Street near Hudson Dockett and Pinevale Learning Center for 28 years.

This is Coleman’s third year being designated as Crossing Guard of the Year for Valdosta.

Coleman said she was encouraged to become a crossing guard by a friend that was a Sergeant with the Valdosta Police Department.

She was hired and has never looked back.

The interaction between kids and cars can be hectic, but Coleman said she still enjoys her job though she is fully aware she only has two more years until retirement.

Each year Valdosta Police Department officers vote on crossing guard of the year.

Out of 13, Coleman was chosen as the top guard for 2008.

Speeders are Coleman’s biggest problem.

“They come through here speeding and you think they realize it is a school zone,” Coleman said. “Then they come back through the next day and do the same thing.”

Crossing guards often take down license plates of speeders and are then required to go to court along with the speeders.

Sometimes Coleman will just flag the speeders down and talk to them, others have come back and apologized after flying through the school zone, she said.

In addition to the Crossing Guard of the Year honor, an award she received in 1985 and 2000, Coleman also received cash gifts from both the Valdosta Police Department and Valdosta City Schools.

Coleman said she spent the funds during a recent trip to Atlanta.

Interaction with the people are Coleman’s favorite part of the job.

“A lot of the time you think you have problems and then somebody comes along with a bigger problem,” she said.