To spread the message of traffic safety, members of the Felicity-Franklin School District teaching staff and the Ohio State Highway Patrol played a friendly yet competitive game of basketball in the Felicity High School gym Feb. 13.

Playing to the middle and high school student bodies, the basketball game, which has become an annual event, is designed to bolster camaraderie with local law enforcement officers and to promote safe driving.

“This is a good thing for the kids,” said Felicity-Franklin superintendent Bill Shepherd. “We want the kids to know that the person who wears the badge is and always will be their friend. We have the basketball game so that our kids can show allegiance to the staff – to holler and scream for them – while still respecting our police officers. It is also a great opportunity for us to have all the kids in one place in order to promote safe driving.”

The basketball games started in 1996 as part of a program known as TESTS, or Troopers Educating Students Through Sports; it is was designed as an effective way for high school students to see teachers and law enforcement officers in a much different light, said Batavia Post Commander Lieutenant Randy McElfresh.