Would you like to be behind bars for a day? Well, some people in Ironton didn’t have a choice – they were arrested and had to raise $1,500 for the Muscular Dystrophy Association to get out of "jail.

Friday, October 05, 2001

Would you like to be behind bars for a day? Well, some people in Ironton didn’t have a choice – they were arrested and had to raise $1,500 for the Muscular Dystrophy Association to get out of "jail."

The MDA Lock-Up program, held at the Ironton City Center on Thursday, took people from Ironton businesses and arrested them for one hour or until they raised enough money by calling friends, family and co-workers to bail them out.

The MDA is a volunteer-based agency that raises money used to try to find treatments and cures for neuromuscular diseases through a nationwide research program.

This service includes local clinics, support group sessions and a summer camping program for kids ages 6-12 with muscular dystrophy. Almost all funding comes from private and corporate donations raised throughout the year.

The MDA Lock-Up is held in Ironton once a year. The "jailbirds" aren’t treated too rough, though. Police cruisers are traded in for a Good Times limo that picks up the jailbirds at their work or home, and with handcuffs they take them to the Ironton City Center.

At the City Center, the jailbirds try to raise the most money to top the others arrested.

As of 11 a.m. Thursday, Marvin Black led the pack with $565 raised to aid Muscular Dystrophy research.

Mallory Hurley and McKenzie Yates are Ironton Junior High students participating in a job shadowing program at The Ironton Tribune. Staff writer Jeremy W. Schneider contributed to this article.