Pressident Carter
sites secure
By SCOTT AIKEN / H-P Staff Writer
BENTON HARBOR -- Area police agencies are helping the Benton Harbor Police Department shoulder the big job of safeguarding volunteers and material during this week's Jimmy Carter Work Project.
State police and Berrien County sheriff's deputies are sharing patrol duties with city police around the building sites, materials storage yard and tents used to serve meals to hundreds of workers.
Police commanders and Harbor Habitat for Humanity officials met each week for about two months to work out a security plan, said Benton Harbor police Chief Samuel Harris.
Because former President Jimmy Carter is taking part in the five-day building blitz, the Secret Service was involved in security planning, Harris said.
While Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, worked on one house Monday, the Secret Service agents were never far away.
Approximately 1,700 volunteers were expected to take part in building 20 houses.
"It all has to be coordinated," Harris said.
As the housing sites bustled with activity Monday, police patrolled the area on foot and on all-terrain vehicles. Harris said the ATVs give police great mobility and speed in getting around the building sites.
Sheriff Paul Bailey said deputies and state troopers would be on duty in the area at night. Construction stops each day at 10 p.m.
Mike Green, executive director of Harbor Habitat for Humanity, which is hosting the JCWP, said many steps have been taken to secure building materials and tools.
A fenced materials yard holds scaffolding when it's not in use and other material.
Materials for the houses are kept in locked, 53-foot trailers near the sites. One or two of the people assigned to each building crew manage the materials, Green said.
There is also a block leader, and each house has a leader who sends for material and tools as needed.
"We've got this down to a science, so we know what materials we'll need," Green said.
