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Local council describes youth homicide as a 'wake-up call,' urges more recreational options and prevention funding
Summary
Following the shooting death of a young person the council had been working with, CJCC members urged more low-barrier youth activities, better coordination of behavioral-health services, and use of prevention and opioid-settlement funds for outreach and billboards.
Members of the Sawyer County Criminal Justice Coordinating Council spent a significant portion of the July 8 meeting responding to the shooting death of a youth the council had been working with. A committee member said the youth had been shot and killed during the Muskyfest weekend; speakers described the child as "trying," noted both parents had died of overdoses, and called the incident a community "wake-up call."
Committee members pressed for concrete prevention measures: more accessible recreational programming (rotating pick-up basketball and intramural play), expanded community-based activities that do not require high costs or heavy parental time commitments, and greater use of prevention funding and opioid-settlement dollars for public messaging. The chair said prevention priorities include screen-time messaging and healthy-activities billboards, and confirmed county prevention funds would be used to support schools' decisions such as phone restrictions during school hours.
Participants also discussed structural barriers to participation: rising costs and hyper-competitiveness in youth sports, transportation limitations in a rural county, and school policies that ban students with disciplinary issues from school grounds (which can bar them from extracurriculars). Members suggested CJCC could endorse or help coordinate community fundraising, facility usage changes and partnerships with local providers to create low-cost, low-barrier options.
Several members recommended immediately promoting informal, neighborhood-focused activities as an interim step (pick-up games and rotating court nights) while pursuing longer-term options such as partnerships with existing facilities. The council scheduled follow-up work and said it would consider endorsing community initiatives aimed at youth engagement.
Ending: The CJCC ended the meeting with a consensus to prioritize youth engagement and to bring these ideas forward at the next meeting; members asked staff to continue coordinating with recovery court, schools and community partners.
