LV concrete artist to do his time at the YMCA

      Ten-year-old concrete artist Jeremy Anderson will have to complete a YMCA youth program before vandalism charges against him are dropped, a juvenile hearing master ruled Friday.
      Jeremy originally was charged with felony vandalism for scribbling "Jeremy's cool" and other slogans in a 350-foot stretch of wet concrete along Washington Avenue in northwest Las Vegas.
      The boy claimed a construction worker at the site invited him to scratch his name in the sidewalk. In May he entered a "no contest" plea to a reduced charge of a gross misdemeanor before Juvenile Hearing Master Sylvia Beller.
      Under the terms of the plea bargain, Jeremy had to repay $100 to the Plasterers and Masons Union, which voluntarily repaired the sidewalk.
      He also will have to go to the YMCA program four weeks in a row, two hours a week, according to his attorney, Robert Kossack.
      If he successfully completes the program by Aug. 14, all charges against him will be dropped, Kossack said.
      Kossack said he is not sure what the youth program teaches, though he assumes "it will teach him more than basketball, it will teach him not to trust construction workers that say he can write his name in concrete."
      The $100 has been paid, Kossack said.
      Jeremy's story gained national attention when his mother, Barbara Anderson, expressed outrage over the boy's arrest at his school. Anderson said she should have been notified before her child was taken to a juvenile facility and strip-searched.
      Las Vegas police say they tried several times to contact the boy's mother before coming to the school and arresting him.
      Shortly after the case started to receive national media attention, the victim in the case, Richard Plaster, requested the charge be dropped. He then submitted a written request to prosecutors asking they "reconsider" their decision to pursue the case.