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Students at Bellingham Technical College were handed one of the more unusual, hands-on assignments so far this school year: Outfit the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office’s new 18-ton, mine-resistant truck.

Welding students at the college spent last week bolting on seats and installing lights on a Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle that came to the sheriff’s office earlier this year from a military base in Texas. Those extra seats could be for civilians evacuated from a school shooting, or from a natural disaster, said Whatcom County Undersheriff Jeff Parks.