BY JANE PRENDERGAST
The Cincinnati Enquirer
COVINGTON -- In a time when many police forces are tapping into pots of grant money, there's one fund at the Covington Police Department that isn't so healthy.
The bank account for the Police Activities League (PAL) is low. More than half of its balance of less than $5,000 is grant money targeted for sending kids to a Corinth nature camp.
And the rest wouldn't be in there if not for a $2,000 donation this summer from a Covington company.
"We're very restricted in what we would like to be able to do," said Sgt. Ray Murphy, PAL coordinator. "We just don't have enough money."
Chief Al Bosse had hoped corporate donations would start coming in after PAL got its not-for-profit status. That makes contributions tax write-offs. But the designation hasn't helped much.
The $2,000 from Atkins & Pearce Manufacturing Co. was the group's first corporate sponsorship.
"Had that money not come in, we would probably be close to zero now," Sgt. Murphy said.
Even in its sluggish financial situation, the department decided it was still important to send its boys baseball team to the national PAL tournament in Fort Myers, Fla. That trip cost about $5,000, some of which was raised by the kids' candy sales.
The 14 boys, ages 11 to 13, returned Aug. 8 with only one win in 16 games -- in contrast to their 13-and-1 record locally. But coaches used it as a lesson, telling the players even before they left that the competition would be stiff.
"We said it would be a learning experience," Sgt. Murphy said. "And we wanted them to know that there is a reward for sticking with PAL, for getting involved.
"Now we're just hoping to come up with some more money to teach other things to the kids, too."
