On Monday, August 26, 2002, all the Boy Scouts in Chippewa Falls were invited to "test out" the new Chippewa County Jail with an overnight stayy. (This gives new meaning to the word lock-in!) Sheriff Doug Ellis happens to be Scoutmaster of Troop 13, so he was in charge of the trial run. In addition to Troop 13 and Troop 72, there was also participation from Troop 15 and Troop 135. The evening started at 5:00 p.m., whereupon each troop was assigned a cell block. Troop 72 was sent to Cell Block E, where Mark Hedrington declared himself "King of the Cell Block" and went unchallenged. At 6:00 p.m., dinner was slid through the slot from the guard area. After supper, most of the boys went to the Huber area where they earned the Fingerprinting Merit Badge. Back in our cell blocks, we all enjoyed a special treat of pop and cookies while some played monopoly, some played cards, some read, and some worked on other merit badges. The "lights out at 10pm" turned out to be more like "lights slightly dimmed at midnight", but we were able to get at least a few hours of sleep on our little beds before the lights came back up to full at 0600, quickly followed by "Reville" on the bugle. Hopefully this experience will not only get them all "scared straight," but will also make them appreciate the outdoors more -- even if it's raining! ;-) (Read the newspaper article about this event.)

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