"I got a rock," O'Malley shouted, sounding a little like Charlie Brown as he lifted his net.
Everyone gathered for the obligatory TV shots but soon turned back to the task of dipping and splashing.
The real reason for O'Malley's visit was to get a little publicity for the new Civic Justice Corps, an offshoot of the Maryland Conservation Corps.
The program will give summer jobs in the parks to 200 city kids, ages 14 to 20, who might land in trouble without intervention. The kids will help spruce up Patapsco Valley and Gunpowder Falls state parks, which have suffered in recent years under budget cutbacks. In return, they'll earn a paycheck and learn some outdoors and job skills before graduating Aug. 8.
With summer just weeks away, Lt. Peyton Taylor of the Maryland Parks Service is helping ramp up the program.
"We've gone from zero to 90 pretty much overnight," she explained. "In the beginning, we wondered whether we could fill all the positions. It wasn't that we were concerned that the kids weren't out there. The question was reaching them."
Already, parks staff has interviewed applicants for crew chiefs and with the help of the Parks and People Foundation are attending job fairs to recruit. When school lets out, the Civic Justice Corps will be ready to roll.
"This was meant to be," Taylor said, smiling.
O'Malley would like to expand the summer program to include at-risk kids from other parts of Maryland.
"We're going to try to connect kids and nature in a systematic way," he explained.
And the parents?
"The kids will get on the adults to become more connected and better stewards," replied O'Malley, the father of four. "At least that's how it works in my house."
Then he walked back up the trail, his entourage bringing up the rear. Let the record show that his boots were no longer scuff-free.
candy.thomson@baltsun.com
