They don't look much like community servants, sitting in the back of Dig's Diner before school drinking coffee.

Some of them smoke cigarettes. Some of them have long hair.

Some wear baggy jeans and leather jackets.

They don't look much like community servants, but they are.

They are a group of a dozen or so teens who hang out at Dig's in the morning.

When Dig approached them about helping out with a community service project, they responded.

"Our local food pantry (Combined Community Services) is out of food," said Dig's owner Bill DeGaetano, more commonly known as Dig.

"I asked the kids if they wanted to help out and they said, 'sure,'" he said.

So together they hatched a plan to raise canned food and cash for CCS.

A dunk tank.

It all comes together tomorrow, from 2 to 5 p.m. in front of Dig's Diner at 114 N. Buffalo St., Warsaw.

Dig will sit in the dunk tank.

The idea has possibilities. Anybody who knows Dig or who has eaten in his restaurant probably would love to see him fall into a tank of water.

Nov. 2 isn't generally considered dunk tank weather, but Dig is not deterred.

"Why do you think I'm putting it in front of the restaurant, dummy?" he asked me. "It's so I can put warm water in it."

Ah, that crystal clear logic.

The cost to dunk Dig is one can of food. But Dig isn't picky. He'll take cash, too.

"It's a dollar per ball or three for five dollars," he said. "You do the math."

Jim Stafford at CCS said this year the cupboard is a bit bare.

"We've got some government commodities - rice, peanut butter, juice - but we're really low on canned goods," he said.

"We've had some food drives and there's some coming up, but it seems like it just goes out faster than it comes in."

Stafford said that if some food doesn't come in soon, "We're just going to have to go out and buy some."

That's where Dig and "his kids" come in.

"After I mentioned it to my kids, they really got into it. They're doing all the work. They're organizing it. They'll do all the pickup and delivery and they'll stock the shelves," Dig said.

"They're good kids having a good time and helping the community," he said. "I'm doing this because my kids want to do it."

There's more to it than just the dunk tank. The kids have been going around town, soliciting businesses and individuals.

And Dig already has two businesses that are willing to match anything the kids can come up with.

"Dig asked us to help out and it sounded like a good idea," said Loren Boggs, one of the kids.

"We'd like to get the whole community involved," she added.

I asked one of the kids if it wasn't a bit atypical for a group like theirs to be doing something like this.

"It's fun to help. It shouldn't be atypical," said Nathan Beck. "We never knew there was a problem with our food bank."

Other kids hanging at Dig's the morning I dropped in were Kara Randall, April Swanson, John Landis, Phillip Boggs and Amy Durst.

So if you have a minute Sunday, take the time to dunk Dig. If not, the can drive will continue after the official dunk tank kickoff tomorrow, so just bring canned goods or cash to Dig's anytime. He'll make sure it ends up in the right place.

By the way, I've alerted the Department of Natural Resources. I figure there may be a need for flood control in front of Dig's on Sunday.

Signal 30

When I was taking driver's ed in high school, they showed us this film.

It was called "Signal 30." It showed lots of horrible highway carnage - the result of making mistakes while driving.

It was supposed to indelibly stamp our consciousness with the dangers of errant driving.

They could have shot that film out on U.S. 30 in Warsaw.

Is it just me or does it seem like there are way too many accidents out there?

It might be time to make U.S. 30 through Warsaw a well-publicized speed trap.

I know our police departments - city, county and state - have limited resources and there are a lot of other roads in the county besides U.S. 30. But can't we free up an officer or two to bust people for speeding on U.S. 30?

If you drive the speed limit on U.S. 30 through Warsaw, people blow by you like you are standing still.

I got a ticket on U.S. 30 in Columbia City. Then I heard that Columbia City is notorious for busting people for speeding.

The word gets around. Drivers - me included - take it easy through Columbia City.

WPD Captain Steve Foster said Friday that the city is looking to increase radar and patrols on U.S. 30. Sounds like a great idea to me.

Accidents, generally, are caused by careless drivers. I realize there's no way cops can make drivers careful.

But they can make drivers slow down. [[In-content Ad]]