Sheriff’s Camp, a retreat for Chenango’s youth

SMYRNA – For the last 15 years The Chenango County Sheriff’s Office has dedicated itself to the future of Chenango County by reaching out to local children at their summer camp where kids are taught civic virtue, community participation and mutual respect by engaging in fun outdoor activities with emergency service personnel.

“One of the aims of the camp is to have kids interacting with the deputies and emergency staff so that they learn not to fear a firemen or a police officer if they ever need to encounter them in real life. We want to build a relationship of trust so they hopefully learn to engage law enforcement and participate in the ongoings of the community later in life,” said Chenango County Sheriff Ernest R. Cutting.

The Sheriff’s camp is free of charge for area kids ages 9 through 12, and has been in operation for 15 years at Camp Thompson in Smyrna.

For three weeks of the summer Correction’s Sgt. John Trottier said the camp is a place where kids can have fun surrounded by great role models, in a safe and healthy environment.

“We gear a lot of what we do to building a friendly rapport between the kids and between emergency services,” he said.

Trottier, referred to as Sgt. Dude by the kids has been working in with the program for the last 5 years.

One camper, Kyle, like many other of kids, said he had been the camp before. “I just really like this place, I like the fun stuff we do, like capture the flag, four square, everyone just has fun,” he explained.

Kyle’s younger brother Scott decided to attend the camp after hearing his brother brag about his experiences at home. “I’m going come back every summer too,” he exclaimed.

Trottier said programs such as the camp were necessary to keep kids healthy not only in the near future, but also to meets their immediate needs.

Each week the camp operates Monday through Thursday with different kids drawn from different school districts each week. The school districts are scheduled as follows: July 13 to16: Sherburne-Earlville, Unadilla Valley, Gilbertsville-Mt. Upton and Otselic, July 20 to 23: Greene, Afton, Bainbridge-Guilford and July 27 to 30: Norwich and Oxford. Each rotation includes around 100 new kids each week.