An art gallery, a jail cell, a church, two things called 'library', and a fire truck.
It's not the start of a convoluted joke, it was the Downtown Warren Walking Field Trip.
Students in fifth grade at Warren Area Elementary Center walked around town on Thursday.
Article Photos
Times Observer photo by Brian Ferry
Warren Area Elementary Center fifth-graders watch as teacher Patrick Mulligan is assisted into the rear of a City of Warren police cruiser by Patrolman Nick Bryan during the school’s Downtown Warren Walking Field Trip. Mulligan faces charges of excessive homework assignment.
Students rode buses from the school to First United Methodist Church in the morning and were on their separate ways.
They made their way to several locations along Market Street and Third Avenue: Crary Art Gallery, Warren Public Library, Struthers Library Theatre, First United Methodist, City of Warren Fire Department, and City of Warren Police Department.
Each group spent about 30 minutes at each location.
At the police station, students checked out the view from behind the bars in the cell block, spent some time in the interview/interrogation room, saw the sergeants' office, the patrol room, and the dispatch center.
After the tour of the building, officers told the students about police vehicles and equipment. Each student was allowed to sit in the driver and passenger seats, as well as the much less comfortable back seats.
Teachers were handcuffed and escorted into the cars, then asked about their experiences.
Teacher Patrick Mulligan said sitting in the back seat of the cruiser with his hands cuffed behind his back and almost no leg-room was very uncomfortable.
At the end of the day, students made their way back to the church to catch the buses back to school for dismissal.