Service with the mayor

Beyond the tractors, pickups and garbage trucks, five teenagers apply water sealant to long slabs of cedar. The smell, mixed with that of the garbage trucks, is an unpleasant one.

One look at these kids' faces and you know they're not here for fun. You know they're not enjoying the task at hand. They'd rather be elsewhere, anywhere.

But they can't be. They have court-mandated community service hours to perform.

The courts have labeled them as juvenile offenders. Havre Mayor Bob Rice calls them good kids who've made a mistake. Every day after school and for up to six hours on Saturdays Rice and...