Chester Bradshaw had a problem. He needed some strong arms and backs to help on a variety of projects related to improving the Tsala Apopka lake chain, but he couldn't pay anyone for their labor.
Tom Moore also had a problem. The youngsters in the Teen Court program that he oversees could use some new locations to perform their assigned community service hours.
Last Tuesday, Bradshaw went to Teen Court with a question. Would any of the teens be interested in spending some time out in the lake system picking up trash, clearing underbrush and doing other chores to enhance the waterways?
As the teens swarmed Bradshaw to volunteer for duty, the answer was obvious.
The paperwork was sorted out, the Ecosystem Wetlands Project was made official, and Bradshaw and the first group of teens prepared to head out on the water. They were scheduled to work this past weekend cleaning the banks of a flood control canal in the north end of the lake chain.
Teen Court is a unique program in which first-time offenders who have admitted guilt are sentenced by a jury of their peers. Those sentences include varying amounts of community service, jury duty at one or more of the weekly hearings, and often a public apology and/or a written essay.
For their community service, the teens typically have done chores such as washing fire trucks and cleaning out cages at the Animal Control shelter. While useful, those labors have lacked a certain something. Bradshaw and the Teen Court officials managed to put their fingers on it.
"We're always looking for meaningful community service, some way to give back to the community," Moore said. "These kids will be working with adults, and when they see adults out there working not because they have to do community service but because it's important, maybe it will mean something to them."
"Teen Court is about decision making, making choices," said Barbara Hinkle, Teen Court assistant director. "I see this as a major step toward the teenagers accepting their roles and responsibilities as citizens."
Bradshaw echoed those feelings. Kids need to understand that they will inherit this Earth one day, so maybe they should begin to take care of it. "You wash a fire truck, that truck doesn't belong to you. But if you clean up a lake, that lake is yours," he said.
This new wrinkle is part of a larger campaign by Bradshaw and others to restore the lake system and the adjoining Withlacoochee River to its natural state, including removing man made elements that have changed the water's flow over the last century. It's a highly political effort that has, from time to time, landed Bradshaw and others in hot water with various agencies that oversee the waterways.
The new project will avoid turning the kids into unwitting pawns in those battles by making sure from the outset that the various agencies are on board. The roster of affiliated groups reads like the United Nations of the environment: Bradshaw's group Friends Of the Green Swamp Watershed Inc. (FROGS), the Citrus County Airboat Alliance, the Board of County Commissioners, the state Department of Environmental Protection, Florida Wildlife Conservation Commission, the Southwest Florida Water Management District and the state Division of Forestry.
And the organizers seem to have anticipated other problems, such as the possible dangers inherent in working in the river and swamps, such as visits by critters like mosquitoes, snakes and gators. The teens all must know how to swim plus they will have leather gloves, suitable shoes, life jackets and eye protection and hard hats when needed. Plus, Bradshaw will have first-aid equipment and groups have already agreed to donate food and bottled water.
Hinkle and Moore said that Bradshaw is taking on quite a responsibility, but they are confident in his abilities to make this work. "We have a lot of confidence in him," said Hinkle, who dubbed Bradshaw the White Knight of the Green Swamp.
At first, Bradshaw said, he was expecting only boys to volunteer but he was happy to see that several young ladies also wanted to be part of the project. One girl got a bit indignant, he said. "She said, "If they can send us to fight in Iraq, why can't we do this, too?' " Good point. The girls will be welcome.
That means special adjustments and Bradshaw has lined up several women to venture along on future trips as chaperones plus he has a commitment to get a portable toilet set up at a staging area.
The goal of the project is to clean up the waterways and to restore water into the back marshes of the lake system, possibly to identify and mark the 37 or so islands in the chain and to create boat landings on them.
That's the easy part.
The real success is if this new partnership results in awakening some public responsibility and environmental stewardship in a group of teens who are on the verge of turning themselves off from society altogether. Perhaps they'll learn to appreciate the world around them and develop some work ethic by sweating along with adult volunteers to make Citrus County a better place.
If so, that will be the best form of community service that these kids could possibly hope for. As Bradshaw said, the slogan will be: Love 'em and lead 'em.
[Last modified April 18, 2003, 11:32:47]
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