By Wes Feese
Media Relations, Adair County Schools
Adair County Middle School seventh grade students participated Friday in a program designed to steer kids away from reckless and illegal behavior by showing what can happen when people make poor decisions. The event, dubbed “Truth or Consequences,” gives students different crimes, then – as if the students had actually broken the law – sends them around to meet with various organizations to learn the crime’s consequences.
“The goal is to teach the students what really happens if you commit a crime,” explains Tony Rose, Adair County Extension Agent for Youth and 4-H. “It kind of puts them in the system and shows the consequences of getting in trouble.”
The program was presented this year as a joint effort by the Adair County Cooperative Extension Office, ACMS, Adair County Youth Services, and the ACHS 4-H Leadership group. Volunteers set up at various tables for students to visit included local law enforcement, school officials, representatives from the state Dept. of Juvenile Justice, District Judge Michael Loy, and County Attorney Jennifer Hutchison-Corbin.
“Our hope and belief is that most of these kids will never see the system,” Rose says. “It’s an effective deterrent.”
