Black paint splattered up her arms and across her tie-dyed tank top, a teenage girl learned a valuable lesson Friday at Dakota Zoo: It's easier to stay out of trouble than to do community service.

"I don't want to do community service again," she said. "This is more work than a job."

The girl was one of 15 paint-splattered juveniles, ages 14 to 17, participating in a community service project for teens involved in juvenile court and juvenile drug court.

"It was fun but hot," the girl said.

John Grinsteiner, a judicial referee, said eight of the workers Friday were youths from the South Central Judicial District's juvenile drug court, an intensive program for teens with addiction problems on the verge of being taken out of their homes and placed in juvenile facilities.

"It's their last chance to stay home," he explained, adding that most of the kids have weekly community service hours to fulfill as part of the program.

The rest were part of the juvenile court system who owe community service hours, he said. A certain number of community service hours are part of many juvenile court sentences, which also often include counseling, restitution and drug testing.

"These are kids who are probably first, second, third offenders," he said about the teens from juvenile court.

The teens were supervised Friday by Grinsteiner, drug court coordinator Jackie Presley and youth probation officer Tom Lamphear, who organized the project. Lamphear said they also organized a similar project last year at the zoo.

The kids gave fences and railings around the zoo a fresh coat of black paint, while also finding ways to get much of the paint on their clothes and skin. Domino's Pizza donated pizza and beverages for the teens, and Presley said a case of water and a case and a half of pop were polished off during the day.

With the temperature lingering near 90 degrees, the teens looked relieved when Grinsteiner and Lamphear told them they had finished about an hour and a half early with more painting than zoo director Terry Lincoln thought they would get done.

"It's been an experience for them,"Grinsteiner said.

He said he hopes the kids learn from such projects to take pride in hard work and understand what it takes to keep things looking nice. Many juvenile offenses are crimes against the community, such as vandalism, so he wants them to know what it takes to clean things up.

When they visit the zoo sometime later in life, "They can say, 'Ihelped paint those fences,'" Grinsteiner said.

Lamphear said no one he asked to be part of the community service project turned down the opportunity. He said the teens did a good job around the zoo.

"Ninety-five percent of my caseload is good kids who made a mistake,"he said.

Lincoln said the work the teens did Friday would have taken zoo staff a month to squeeze in with other duties.

"They really helped us out," he said. "It's something we've been trying to do all summer."

Lincoln hopes the juveniles got something out of the experience, as well. "Really, what better environment is there for kids to come out and realize work can be fun, too?" he said.

"We're trying to do a real good job so he wants us back,"Grinsteiner said.

Lincoln indicated he hopes the zoo can continue working with the court system.

"We kind of enjoy the partnership that is developing," he said.

(Reach reporter Jenny Michael at 250-8225 or jenny.michael@;bismarcktribune.com.)