A little rain and wind didn’t stifle the enthusiasm of 17 youngsters who experienced community policing via bows and arrows.
Their squeals and laughter proved that the first Badges and Bullseyes program in the Clintonville area Oct. 12 was a rousing success.
From the time we set up foam targets, arrow holders and donated Mathews Genesis bows at Clintonville Bow Hunters club west of Clintonville to the time the kids returned to Clintonville Police Department in two school vans, an almost steady rain fell and the wind blew. The canopy over the club’s pavilion area offered the youngsters a dry spot to shoot from, although they didn’t mind getting a little wet when retrieving their arrows.
The archery instruction program is part of Clintonville PD’s community policing program, led by Officer Joe LeBreck. The department adopted a statewide program launched by former Pewaukee police officer Bob Kraemer called the Cops and Kids Foundation. Even Kraemer himself was at the event, eagerly snapping photos with his camera. He launched the program in the Milwaukee and Pewaukee areas in 2010, and it’s been spreading through the state ever since.
Kraemer’s nonprofit foundation provides grants and equipment to get the program started, then steps back and watches it take root with community support like a growing child. This is what’s happening in Clintonville, with the city creating a funding mechanism to support both community policing and a K-9 program. Donations of money and prizes or other giveaways continue to come in. An Aug. 4 golf event raised $8,000 to help with the program, LeBrock said.
Every kid at the archery event received a T-shirt with sponsor names printed on it.
Kids never pay a cent to sign up, and they always come home with plenty of gear and full stomachs. Students ages 7 to 17 at the archery event dined on hot dogs and bratwurst grilled by members of Clintonville Bow Hunters Club (Jim Schoenike, Mike Bevernitz and Gary Kaczorowski), and went home with T-shirts, tote bags, color-changing cups, water bottles, hand towels, caps and stickers, donated by the city of Clintonville and 4imprint in Oshkosh.
The first official Cops and Kids Foundation event in Clintonville was the May 4 Cops and Bobbers fishing outing, when 24 kids fished on Pigeon Lake, with pontoon boats provided by the Pigeon Lake Foundation.
A Gutter Busters bowling program is slated for Dec. 28 at Memory Lanes Bar and Grill in Clintonville.
Most of the kids at the archery event had shot bows before, but a few needed extra help. Lending a hand on the shooting line were Clintonville Police Officer Casey Ebert, who used to work at an archery shop, and School Resource Officer Tyler Bartel, as well as Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Conservation Warden Jonathan Kaiser and Don Rogalski, a Wisconsin Bowhunters Association district director and club treasurer. WBA, based in Clintonville with an archery museum there, provided targets, bows, arrows and other gear for the event.
Ross Bielema is a freelance writer from New London and owner of Wolf River Concealed Carry LLC. Contact him at Ross@wolfriverccw.com.
Rain doesn’t dampen spirits of young archers
