Connections being made through fishing
MAKING A DIFFERENCE — Some 85 Toronto Junior/Senior High School seventh- and eighth-graders enjoyed a day at the lake, courtesy of the school’s Cops-N-Bobbeers program. The annual event, held at a private lake in Bloomingdale, teaches kid there are lots of ways to have fun that don’t involve abusing drugs and alcohol, while also letting them build a “positive relationship” with area law enforcement officers. -- Linda Harris
MAKING A DIFFERENCE — Some 85 Toronto Junior/Senior High School seventh- and eighth-graders enjoyed a day at the lake, courtesy of the school’s Cops-N-Bobbeers program. The annual event, held at a private lake in Bloomingdale, teaches kid there are lots of ways to have fun that don’t involve abusing drugs and alcohol, while also letting them build a “positive relationship” with area law enforcement officers. -- Linda Harris
MAKING A DIFFERENCE — Some 85 Toronto Junior/Senior High School seventh- and eighth-graders enjoyed a day at the lake, courtesy of the school’s Cops-N-Bobbeers program. The annual event, held at a private lake in Bloomingdale, teaches kid there are lots of ways to have fun that don’t involve abusing drugs and alcohol, while also letting them build a “positive relationship” with area law enforcement officers. -- Linda Harris
MAKING A DIFFERENCE — Some 85 Toronto Junior/Senior High School seventh- and eighth-graders enjoyed a day at the lake, courtesy of the school’s Cops-N-Bobbeers program. The annual event, held at a private lake in Bloomingdale, teaches kid there are lots of ways to have fun that don’t involve abusing drugs and alcohol, while also letting them build a “positive relationship” with area law enforcement officers. -- Linda Harris
MAKING A DIFFERENCE — Some 85 Toronto Junior/Senior High School seventh- and eighth-graders enjoyed a day at the lake, courtesy of the school’s Cops-N-Bobbeers program. The annual event, held at a private lake in Bloomingdale, teaches kid there are lots of ways to have fun that don’t involve abusing drugs and alcohol, while also letting them build a “positive relationship” with area law enforcement officers. -- Linda Harris
MAKING A DIFFERENCE — Some 85 Toronto Junior/Senior High School seventh- and eighth-graders enjoyed a day at the lake, courtesy of the school’s Cops-N-Bobbeers program. The annual event, held at a private lake in Bloomingdale, teaches kid there are lots of ways to have fun that don’t involve abusing drugs and alcohol, while also letting them build a “positive relationship” with area law enforcement officers. -- Linda Harris
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BLOOMINGDALE -- Eighty-five kids from Toronto Junior-Senior High were part of this year's Cops-N-Bobbers, the program designed to teach kids to fish and connect them with the outdoors while developing positive relationships with law enforcement.
It was the seventh year it's been held in Jefferson County.
"We teach the kids about drugs and alcohol, that there's other things in life to get involved in, like fishing, hiking and bike riding," Toronto teacher and coach Bruce Palmer, who brought the program to Jefferson County, said. "This is one of those activities."
Jefferson County sheriff's deputies, Steubenville Police, the Jefferson County Drug Task Force, Toronto Police and Ohio State Highway Patrol were among those represented at the four-hour event.
"We've done this every year at Toronto, in cooperation with the teachers there," Palmer said. "The seventh- and eighth-grade teachers are an integral part of this, we couldn't do it without them."
Palmer said students are excited to be part Cops-N-Bobbers, which aims to teach kids that there's ways to have fun that don't involve abusing drugs and alcohol.
"The kids, they look forward to it all year," he said. "Some of them say this motivates them at home because they learn so much about drug and alcohol, and the fishing inspires them to do other activities.
"I'll cross paths with them in the hallway and they always say, 'When are we going fishing. Our principal, our superintendent, our Board of Education and teachers ... without them it wouldn't occur."
Jefferson County Drug Task Force Capt. John Lemal said it's a chance for kids and police to build a rapport.
"We want to get the kids out, introduce them to local law enforcement and understand we're here to support them and to help them," Lemal said. "It's a beautiful day, we let them have some fun.
He said talking with kids about the dangers of drugs and alcohol is important, as is the opportunity to let them know law enforcement is there to help.
"They get to meet a bunch of officers from throughout the county, the different agencies, and have some fun," he said, "but (we want them to know) they can look to us for help for other things in life..hopefully, they can look at us as something other than just a law enforcement officer...out to arrest people, because that's not what we're her for. We're here to help."