Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Because, in part, of the volunteerism of the Kosciusko County sheriff's reserves, the underbrush and weeds in the woods between Warsaw Community High, Edgewood Middle and Washington Elementary schools are gone.
There's now practically a clear view from one side of the woods to the other.
The woods cleanup was part of the reserves' community service project for the year.
"The sheriff's reserves do a wonderful job," said James Jarrette, Kosciusko County Superior Court II judge.
Cleaning up the woods began in June and took place almost every Saturday. At the beginning, the woods was very thick. The reserves take the teenagers, who must complete court-ordered community service, to the job site, where they are to fulfill their obligation. Not only do the reserves supervise, Lt. Ken Yost said, but they also get right in and work beside the kids.
"It kind of surprises them we do that," Yost said. He said the reserves try to be good influences and role models for the kids performing the community service.
Most of the crew on the community service projects, Jarrette said, are youths who were arrested mostly for consumption of alcohol by a minor, but a few were charged with conversion or driving while intoxicated. Over the summer, an estimated 50 young people served, on average, approximately two days of community service each instead of spending 10 days in jail.
Yost said the kids cut down small trees, removed weeds, picked up trash and loaded the brush into trucks supplied by the county and city to be hauled off. They started each day at 8 a.m. and worked until about 2 or 2:30 p.m., depending on how hard the kids worked.
He said, "The school project was a real good project because it was a long project." If the public saw it before the work started, and looked at it now, he said, they'd see a real difference.
Yost said 25 reserves volunteered with the service project this year.
The woods wasn't the only place where the community service was performed, although this year it was where most of the service took place. In Winona Lake, curbs were painted and cleaned up, while, in Sidney, the cemeteries were cleaned up.
Jarrette said, "The reserves are always there, they're always willing to do this sort of stuff."
He said they take on projects that most people don't want to do, that take time out of the reserves' Saturdays.
Along with the reserves' volunteerism, Jarrette also applauded the City of Warsaw's street department and the Kosciusko County Highway Department for hauling the brush away on weekends. The Kosciusko County Sheriff's Department provides the lunches and transportation.
"It's a cooperative effort between government and volunteers," he said.
The community service project during the summer has been ongoing for about 15 years or more, Jarrette said.
"The reserves have always been the group to come in and do the lifting," he said.
