Rolling Hills Resource Officer shares big idea with Byesville Rotary

Pictured: Chuck Fair, Byesville Rotary President; Deputy Chad Kerns, Resource Officer for Rolling Hills School District; and Becky Brunner, Speaker Chair for January.

Deputy Chad Kerns is organizing a safety program on the topic of the dangers of distracted driving. His goal is to reach all of the high school students in Guernsey County. To meet this goal, Kerns has developed a coalition of each of the school districts in Guernsey County and has enlisted the support of law enforcement agencies in the county.

The main speaker at this program will be Dom Tiberi. It is unusual for Tiberi to present “Marie’s Message” outside of Franklin County. One reason he agreed to come to Guernsey County is because of the large number of students he will be able to reach at one meeting. A second reason is because Deputy Kerns is passionate about reaching out to young people and talking about how to be a safe and responsible driver. He also will not take “No” for an answer.

Deputy Kerns is raising money to insure this program is a success. He plans to bus all sophomores, juniors, seniors from each of the county high schools to Prichard Laughlan and to provide a live feed of the program to local high schools so that all freshmen will be able to participate in the program.

Kerns’ goal is to raise at least $2000. He wants to donate $500 to each high school to help defray the cost of transporting their students to the event. He hopes to raise additional funds to provide incentives for the young people attending the program. Donations can be made to the “School Resource Officer Fund” and mailed to: Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #136, 601 Southgate Parkway. Cambridge Ohio 43725. Contact kerns3sro@gmail.com for additional information.

Kerns has been a deputy with the Guernsey County Sheriff’s Office for 15 years and is certified as a National Association of School Resource Officer. One of his jobs at Rolling Hills is to teach safety programs on topics such as anti-smoking, anti- drinking and driving, the dangers of texting and driving, bullying, cyber crime, bus safety and gun awareness. His job is not limited to providing safety programs. He believes “kids come first” and will spend 2-3 hours dealing with problems such as bullying. He believes in working to stop problems before they occur.

Connect with Byesville Rotary at: www.Byesvillerotary.blogspot.com or https://www.facebook.com/pages/Byesville-Rotary/256548047818283. The club meets 7:30 am, Tuesday at the Stop Nine Senior Center at 60313 (GPS use 60299) Southgate Road, Byesville. Walk-ins are welcome at the club’s meeting.