Columbiana County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Jonathan Kerchofer and his K-9 partner Jimmy demonstrate a vehicle search for the odor of drugs during Law Day activities at the Columbiana County Courthouse in Lisbon Friday.

LISBON — Students from across Columbiana County witnessed justice in action Friday as they attended some live criminal hearings during Law Day at the downtown courthouse in Lisbon.

County Common Pleas Court Magistrate Lynsey Lyle-Opalenik, who organized the event sponsored by the Columbiana County Bar Association, said the idea behind Law Day is “to give these high school students the chance to see real-life situations — real life cases — and meet the lawyers, judges and police officers and ask them questions.”

She also said it gives students interested in the law an opportunity to see what it’s really like.

A total of 101 students and their teachers made the trip to Lisbon and were treated with donuts before heading out to the courthouse parking lot to see a K-9 demonstration and hear all about K-9 work.

Demonstrating K-9 teams included Salem Police Department Sgt. Mike Garber and his K-9 partner Chaz and Patrolman Tanor English and his K-9 partner Fero and county Sheriff’s Office Deputy Jonathan Kerchofer and his K-9 partner Jimmy.

Kerchofer and Jimmy showed how they do a vehicle search for drugs, with Jimmy alerting on a corner of the truck. Then English put on the bite suit and both Jimmy and K-9 Chaz went after him. Garber explained how the dogs work and what they can do, from detection work to tracking to apprehension.

“They smell the odor. If I find this odor, I get paid,” Garber said, noting how in Jimmy’s case, he received his toy after he found the odor of the drugs. “Their reaction to the odor is their own natural reaction.”

“It’s pretty amazing to watch these dogs work,” he said.

Garber said they track for surface odor, which can stay intact for as long as 24 hours. If they find something, they bark until their handler gets to them. For apprehension, he said they’re trained to bite and hold. He also answered a lot of questions, including regarding the type of dogs used as K-9s, with Lyle-Opalenik verifying with Garber that there’s a chihuahua that’s a K-9 officer in Cleveland.

“Dogs are like people, they’re all different,” Garber said.

The students then left the parking lot for the courtrooms of Common Pleas Court Judges Megan Bickerton and Scott Washam where both judges talked with them about how their careers started and answered their questions. The students saw some real court hearings, too.

Students came from the county Career and Technical Center, Beaver Local, East Liverpool, East Palestine, Leetonia, United Local, Heartland Christian, Lisbon and Salem. CCCTC students in the criminal justice program attended.

United Local teacher Ethan Blatch said he knows county Assistant Prosecutor Christopher Weeda, who spoke to some of his students previously about the law profession.

“I think it’s good to try to provide as many opportunities for our students to explore different career interests,” he said, noting the sophomores and juniors he brought were excited for the opportunity to come to Law Day.

“I’ve always had an interest in having a career that’s law-based. I thought this would be a great opportunity to see if it’s something I’m interested in,” United junior Adelynn Butream said.

She’s currently looking at majoring in business.

While talking with the students, Judge Megan Bickerton said she always wanted to go to law school and at age 12 she was friends with Louis Tobin, whose father was Common Pleas Court Judge David Tobin. She spoke with the judge about her desire to be a judge and he was a mentor to her. When she was elected, he was the judge who administered her oath.

“I love what I do,” she said.

She also described the bar exam potential lawyers have to pass to become a lawyer as a marathon and county Assistant Prosecutor Steve Yacovone agreed, saying after he graduated law school, he spent all day every day studying for the bar. They asked for a show of hands of students wanted to go to law school and he told them to study hard for the LSAT, which is the test needed to get into law school. Get a high score and get lots of money for scholarships, he said, so study for the LSAT.

Bickerton said that’s good advice.

The students ended the day with a pizza lunch.

mgreier@mojonews.com