The mucking out of animal shelter kennels also has helped clean hallways at Winfield High School, erased tobacco stains on walls in isolated nooks and cleared smoke from restrooms, administrators say. The use of tobacco at the high school has dropped dramatically since town police started issuing citations to violators, sending them before Municipal Judge Jack Gribben .
Kids have to put in eight hours of service for the first offense.
But cleaning dog pens in the animal shelter, they learn something. The plan has been in effect for about three years in Winfield, where just six first-time smoking offenses were reported this school year, school nurse Carolyn Rice said. While she couldn't immediately provide data for previous years, the incidents are down dramatically, she said. There were 19 first-time offenses at Hurricane High this year. More significantly, there have been no second offenses at Winfield, and all six violations occurred on grounds surrounding the building, Assistant Principal Bill Hughes said.