2 agencies work to clean up

NEOCAP provides alternative treatment programs in Warren.
WARREN -- The Trumbull Soil and Water Conservation District and the Northeast Ohio Community Alternative Program have joined for landscaping and cleanup projects that support land conservation.
Mike Wilson, executive director of the SWCD office in Cortland, said Trumbull County Commissioner Dan Polivka and state Rep. Randy Law of Warren, R-64th, approached him recently to discuss the trash problem on the state Route 88 Causeway in Mecca Township and other locations.
The two agreed to take the lead on the project and asked Wilson what other groups could be brought in to assist. Wilson decided to contact NEOCAP, an alternative-sentencing facility on Pine Avenue Southeast, which had provided workers for area projects in the past.
Wilson said the work will probably begin this summer but exact dates are not set.
NEOCAP recently installed river rock at the Trumbull County Agriculture and Family Education Center in cooperation with the Trumbull County Maintenance Department, Wilson said.
Work requirement
According to NEOCAP operations director Allan Seifert, the facility's residents are required to perform supervised work in the community. NEOCAP crews work on unpaid projects for nonprofit and governmental agencies.
Litter pickup, grass cutting, landscaping and working special events and festivals are examples of work they do, Seifert said. Since opening in October 1997, NEOCAP's residents have completed more than 50,000 hours of community service, he said.
NEOCAP's mission is to provide a sentencing option to the common pleas courts in the five-county area it serves by providing a structured treatment program. Among its services is substance-abuse treatment. NEOCAP serves Ashtabula, Geauga, Lake, Portage and Trumbull counties.
NEOCAP is administered by a judicial corrections board consisting of seven common pleas court judges.
Citizens or community groups interested in participating in environmental service projects should contact Trumbull SWCD at (330) 637-2056, Ext. 101.