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Just because people have made a mistake or two doesn't mean they should give up all of life's little pleasures.
That's the philosophy of Cass County Sheriff Bill Brueggemann, who is making 300 boxes of Girl Scout cookies available for county jail inmates to buy.
Brueggemann is an annual supporter of the cookie drive.
He decided to take things a step further by stocking the jail's commissary with Thin Mints, Peanut Butter Patties, Caramel de'Lites and Lemonades.
The sheriff purchased the cookies by spending $1,050 from the jail's commissary fund. Inmate purchases of the cookies will replenish the fund.
The cookies are available only on Wednesdays, and Brueggemann believes the change of pace in commissary offerings will help prisoner morale.
“It's something unique, a little surprise,” he said. “I know inmates are in jail for punishment, but we try to break things up now and then. Even Christmas comes once a year.”
Shaynah Mathes, 5, of Daisy Troop 4536 in Murdock benefited from the sheriff's idea.
Brueggemann said this is the second time inmates have gotten the opportunity to buy Girl Scout cookies.
He said he asked a minister in Murdock for the name of a Scout and found himself calling up a first-year trooper.
“I wasn't so sure she believed me, but by the end of the phone call she knew I wanted 300 boxes,” Brueggemann said. “I could hear her mother in the background saying, ‘How many boxes?'”
Shaynah and her parents, Rachelle and Michael Mathes, drove to the jail to deliver the cookies.
The kindergartner told the sheriff that his purchase helped her troop reach its goal and earned her the honor of becoming the troop's top seller.
Shaynah thanked Brueggemann with a photo of herself in uniform, a thank-you card and a big hug.
“During the (sales) call, she was very polite and poised,” he said. “She took the whole thing in stride.”
Contact the writer:
444-1272, kevin.cole@owh.com
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