Grant to help stop violence in Forsyth
Grant to help stop violence in Forsyth
By STEVE BROWNLEE, Journal Staff Writer
GWINN — Federal funds are on their way to Gwinn and K.I. Sawyer to help combat a recent trend in youth violence seen by local officials.
The U.S. Department of Justice has awarded $150,000 through its GREAT — Gang Resistance and Education Training — program for school curriculums that use law enforcement officers as instructors, according to a news release from Marquette County Sheriff Michael Lovelace and Marquette County Administrator Steve Powers.
The aim is to reach out to elementary and middle school students in order to reduce involvement in gangs and delinquent behavior, teach them the consequences of gang involvement, and help them develop positive relations with law enforcement.
The GREAT program is distributing nearly $15 million to 140 communities nationwide. Marquette County is one of three recipients of these grants in Michigan.
As part of the program, sheriff’s Cpl. Lowell Larson Jr. is being installed as the GREAT officer. Larson will receive training in the GREAT curriculum and begin teaching at Gwinn Middle School this fall.
“We believe that Cpl. Larson will be an excellent role model and resource for the whole community,” Lovelace said.
The program includes a six-week course for families to help parents improve their expectations, establish clear consequences and rewards for actions, and build healthy family relationships, according to Gwinn Schools Superintendent Steve Peffers.
The program and associated meals, child care and gasoline expenses are provided free to participants, Peffers said.
Even before the school year starts, Larson will incorporate violence prevention lessons into recreation programs at Sawyer, including at the Salvation Army recreation center and West Branch Community Center.
Peffers convened the South County Organization for Restoring Excellence — SCORE — in May as a way to combat escalating violence by and against students both inside and outside school.
SCORE includes personnel from the school district, businesses, law enforcement and clergy as a way to combat the problem, Peffers said.
“We started because our levels of violence grew beyond fights,” he said in May. “We can define fights as two willing partners squaring off against each other. However, we had an increase of assaults — which was one person literally attacking another — and that’s what really concerned us.”
Peffers said that by Christmas 2005 the school district had eight or nine assaults, already double the number from the previous year.
The police presence had decreased in the Gwinn and Sawyer areas during the past several years as the population of Forsyth Township, particularly at Sawyer, had grown significantly.
Part of the problem was addressed a month ago when the Michigan State Police placed a satellite of its Negaunee post at Sawyer.
“We’ve had an increase in the number of calls we’re receiving from that area and we want to provide a better level of service to the residents,” Lt. Bob Pernaski, commander of the Negaunee post, said at the time.
The office is in the Sawyer International Airport services center, with plans for seven officers to staff two 10-hour shifts seven days a week.
Acting Forsyth Township Police Chief Ronald Kangas cites budget cuts as the primary reason there are fewer officers able to respond to calls in the area.
“At this time we’re mostly a reactive force instead of being a preventative one — we’re responding to so many calls, that we aren’t really able to patrol problem areas,” Kangas said in early June. “These extra patrols will really help the community out.”
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