On such a perfect spring day, most people were looking for an excuse to get outside.

Tuesday morning, a group of teens wasn’t given a choice.

Well before most downtown business were in full swing, the crew of youths armed with buckets and brooms was herded to Massachusetts Street.

From 8 a.m. until noon, the nine 13- to 18-year-olds from Douglas County Youth Services performed community service by cleaning up downtown, plucking even the tiniest bits of trash from sidewalks and curbs.

“I went outside to get a paper, and they were doing a pretty good job, getting all the cigarette butts and things out of the cracks,” said James Dain, a sales associate at Play It Again Sports, 1029 Mass.

Lawrence Parks & Recreation and Public Works employees clean the downtown area daily, picking up large pieces of litter and emptying trash cans. But Mark Hecker, park maintenance superintendent, said the teens were doing detail work the city crews typically wouldn’t do.

Pam Weigand, Douglas County Youth Services director, said such crews were organized to clean up public areas several times a year when school was out. The crews scour the downtown area two or three times per year.

“(Business) owners will come out and let us know they appreciate it, and some of the restaurants have donated food for lunch,” said Paula Rapp, resource specialist for Youth Services.

Craig Eddis, an intensive supervision probation officer for Douglas County, helps juvenile offenders clean up the 1100 block of Massachusetts Street. Nine teenagers walked around Monday in downtown Lawrence, picking up cigarette butts, wrappers and other debris for community service duty.

Rapp coordinates the cleanup work by youths who have been through the juvenile court system. She will work with the group through Friday. Rapp said it was about the fourth year the center had the young offenders do the cleanups. The Journal-World is not identifying the youths because of privacy concerns.

The cleanup served the dual benefit of beautifying Massachusetts Street and providing a way for the teens to serve their sentences.

“It’s definitely not an exciting time, but it helps give back to the community in more ways than one,” Rapp said.

R.C. Pewtress Sr., owner of R.C.’s Stadium Barbery at 1033 Mass., said it was a good idea to get the streets cleaned and let the youths give something back to the community.

¢ Douglas County Juvenile Detention¢ Kansas Juvenile Justice Authority

“I think it’s a plus for everybody, a plus for them and a plus for downtown,” Pewtress said.

Dain, who said he had served community service himself several years ago in Oklahoma, had one problem: He thought the teens got off too easy, doing relatively light work, outside in such beautiful weather.

“I had to mow and do lawn work for the police department, and it was a lot harder than that,” Dain said.