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2009-11-21

2009-11-18

2009-11-05

Agriculture

Lifestyles

Tuesday, October 13, 2009 12:00 PM

Resident: School resource officer needed to keep community safe

By COURTNEY SERVAES, Herald Staff Writer

POMONA — Mike Gerhardt feels bad for the tagalong.

You know, the one who goes along for the ride, the one who doesn’t really want to commit the crime.

He feels sorry for the young West Franklin students who don’t realize what they’ve gotten into until it’s too late.

At least that’s what Gerhardt, owner of Pome on the Range Orchards and Winery in Homewood, told the West Franklin School Board Monday night.

“This district has a long history of taking in at-risk students,” he said. “I believe you’re poisoning your student body with these students.”

Gerhardt told board members that in the past few years, Pome on the Range has suffered several thefts — totally more than $20,000 at the hands of West Franklin students.

In most of these cases, Gerhardt said there have been two or three West Franklin students who were ready to steal from the orchard, ready to cut the locks and commit the crime.

Meanwhile, Gerhardt said one of the students stands alone, lost.

“The fourth person gets out of the driver’s side and he’s beside himself,” Gerhardt said. “He doesn’t know where to go or what to do. And the fourth person is going down for this thing, too.”

Despite crimes like this — and the $9,000 he lost this summer in thefts — Gerhardt says he thinks some of these problems could be solved with a school resource officer.

The SRO position — which was a full-time position — was eliminated for the 2009-10 school year in April. At the time, Superintendent Dotson Bradbury said it came down to one less teacher or to not continue with the SRO.

This was a decision that Gerhardt said has been detrimental to the school and to its students.

“The SRO is a crucial element in helping set an example for these people,” he said.

Gerhardt added that a video tape of the orchard’s most recent theft will be played at a coming Franklin County Crime Stoppers meeting in the area.

“If you don’t think the community is concerned about it, then I think you’re burying your heads in the sand,” he said.

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Resident: School resource officer needed to keep community safe

By COURTNEY SERVAES, Herald Staff Writer

E-mail this story to a friend | Print this article | Enjoy the convenience of home delivery of The Ottawa Herald.

E-mail this story to a friend | Print this article |
Enjoy the convenience of home delivery of The Ottawa Herald.