Grade-school students in the Palmerton Area School District had a fun reprieve from classes on Thursday. They participated in the Officer Phil child safety program, sponsored by the Palmerton Police Department. The program is designed for children in kindergarten through fourth grade.

The program's presenter, David Carruth, said he really enjoys doing the shows. The handlebar-mustached performer presents three to four shows every day school is open, and has been for 19 years.The South Hackensack, New Jersey, company offers three programs: Officer Phil, Deputy Phil and Firefighter Phil. Carruth told the children the programs have been presented for 40 years and to more than a million children.The program integrates magic, comedy and ventriloquism into an entertaining show that teaches children important life skills. This year's theme is about building character, Carruth said. He told the children that it is important to have good character, because it shows that they care about others, can act respectfully and show responsible behavior.Carruth began the show with scarf magic tricks, pulling them out of a picture and turning the black one into a rainbow scarf. With the children's full attention, he told them there are three rules to know if they encounter a stranger.1. Run away from the stranger.2. If the person is following them, then they should yell for help.3. Tell an adult.A quick recap - run, yell and tell plus a couple of magic tricks - and he was off to the next lesson.This time, Carruth had the magic linking rings - four of them to help the children remember four important rules. Rule number one: don't run in the hallways or anywhere they could get hurt. Second rule: stay calm, quiet and listen to the teacher if there is an emergency. Third, get lots of sleep and eat breakfast, so they will be able to learn in school."Try to learn something every day," he said.And fourth, they should be nice to their teachers, principal and classmates, because it shows respect.Carruth asked for a volunteer and second-grader Samantha Roe came up. He gave her two of the four rings and told her what to do - clink, they linked. A few jokes and Carruth told her to hold the rings, blow on them and pull them apart. His rings came apart, but not hers. A few tries later and he asked for them back. But instead of unlinking the rings, Carruth reviewed each rule with the clink of each ring, until all of them were hanging from one. The children clapped, giggled and laughed.Next, Carruth brought out a puppet, Buddy the Bulldog, to talk to the children. The blue dog just couldn't stop dancing to the music, until Carruth turned it off. He was there to talk about bullying."In order to get rid of a bully, you have to tell a teacher," Carruth said. "It's the right thing to do."Before leaving, Buddy agreed with Carruth that all of these children "had good manners and good character."Carruth went over some safety questions. Again he asked for volunteers. Two boys and two girls were chosen from the crowd. The four came up, and each one answered a question. One by one, they won a sticker and were given a magnetic picture of the face of an animal for them of place on the right body. It was time to wrap up the show.Afterward, Carruth said there are seven performers in the Officer Phil program."Most of them are ventriloquists, who can do magic," he said. "A few of them are magicians, but they have to learn ventriloquism."Carruth has been a ventriloquist for 40 years, he said.Most of the shows are sponsored by local municipalities. The presenters traverse eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey to bring the program to schools. To learn more about the program or how to bring it to a school, go to officerphil.com.