The 18th annual 4-H Safety Day will be held April 13 at the Harlan National Guard Armory. Safety Day targets fifth grade students from all Harlan County Schools and Harlan Independent Middle School. The students will rotate through nine 15 minute sessions.

The sessions will consist of Gun Safety, taught by the Harlan City Police and ATV Safety presented by the Department of Fish and Wildlife. Water and Boating Safety will be taught by the Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Army Corps of Engineers. The Harlan Fire Department will present Fire Safety. Bicycle Safety will be taught by Nathan Boggs of Harlan County Farm Bureau. Harlan County Sheriff’s Office and Jimmy Middleton from the Harlan County of Board of Education will allow students to experience the DUI Goggles Program. The National Weather Service will present Weather Safety. Harlan Trans Star and Harlan Rescue Squad will be showing their equipment used in emergencies.

Fifth-graders will learn a variety of safety aspects during these “hands on” experiences. An Emergency Helicopter from Air Evac will make a stop by the armory between sessions providing the weather is favorable, between 11-11:30 a.m. This is one of the highlights of Safety Day as the students get a close up look at an emergency helicopter used in southeast Kentucky.

4-H Safety Day will consist of a morning session of classes of students from James A. Cawood Elementary, Cawood Elementary, Harlan Middle, Evarts and Green Hill Schools rotating classes from 8:45 until 11:00. The afternoon session will run from 11:30 a.m. until 1:40 p.m. with classes from Cumberland, Rosspoint Elementary, Black Mountain and Wallins Schools rotating through the nine sessions. I would like to take this opportunity to thank each of our presenters this year for teaching these sessions. Our presenters take great pride in their fields of expertise and provide their valuable time to make our Safety Day a success. I would also like to thank school administrators, principals and teachers for allowing their students to take part in these valuable life lessons.

4-H Windowsill Garden Projects are underway in all schools and will continue into April. The 4-H Chick Incubation project is expecting over 50 dozen baby chicks to start hatching next week in all schools, as well. Spring is a busy season for 4-H. Harlan County 4-H Communications Day will be held this Thursday March 15 at the Harlan Campus of Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College. Registration will begin at 5 p.m. in front of the College’s Theater at the Harlan Campus. Students may participate in Demonstrations, Speeches, and Variety Show. Junior Division ages are 9-13. Senior Division ages are 14-18. 4-H Camp applications have been mailed to campers who have attended camp in previous summers and are available on the web and in the office for campers 9-13 years old. Contact Raymond Cox, 4-H Agent/Youth Development for more information on all 4-H projects contact rcox@uky.edu ; office, 606-573-4464; or cell, 606-273-0835.

Raymond Cox is the county extension agent for 4-H/youth development. Educational programs of the Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service serve all people regardless of race, color, age, sex, religion, disability or national origin.