"I survived the Mega Fair 2003," the t-shirt reads on the front. "And never got paid," it continues on the back.

A citizen created the shirt as a joke, but it aptly summed up the feelings of many of the officers who agreed to work off-duty but did not get paid by the Tri-State Mega Festival & Fair.

The IPD provided 116 hours by eight officers. The group did not get paid at all and is owed approximately $2,300, said Capt. Chris Bowman, Ironton Police detective and Fraternal Order of Police representative.

Sgt. Joe Ross is one of the officers who pulled double duty with the hopes of earning a little extra cash.

"Many of us worked double shifts," he said. "We would work eight hours for the city and then go up there for 5 more hours until 11 or 12 at night. Then we had to be back in the office at 6 a.m."

Ross said he had no clue anything like this could happen.

"We absolutely did not have any idea that we were not going to be paid," he said to agree with Bowman's sentiments. "We have done this in the past and as far as I know this is the first time this has ever happened."

But for many of the officers, the desire to help out the community outweighed the thought of not getting a paycheck.

"Even after it was apparent we were not going to get paid, many of us volunteered our services," he said. "We feel sorry for all the people who lost on this."

Twelve officers for the Lawrence County Sheriffs Department are also left wondering about a paycheck for their extra duty. Logging 126 hours at $20 per hour, the Sheriffs office is owed $2,520.

Sheriff Tim Sexton was unavailable to comment.

Phone numbers for Tri-State Mega Fest president Rick Clark were no longer in service as of Wednesday.

The group will reportedly host a press conference at

noon today at the Comfort Inn in South Point.