Pubdate: Thu, 10 Jun 2004
Source: Marco Island Sun Times (FL)
Copyright: 2004sMarco Island Sun Times
Contact:  http://www.mapinc.org/media/3427
Website: http://www.marcoislandflorida.com
Author: Carol Glassman
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/dare.htm (D.A.R.E.)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

D.A.R.E. PROGRAM TO SPEND A WEEK ON MARCO

 From Monday, June 14 through Friday, June 18, the Florida D.A.R.E. 
Officers Association is holding their annual conference at the Marco Island 
Hilton. They are also planning a parade and community night event on Tuesday.

The Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) program is a unique drug 
education program structured to give children the best possible preparation 
to resist drugs and violence as they enter adolescence. The program has 
proven so successful that it is now taught in every state and several 
foreign countries. The U.S. Department of Defense has authorized the 
D.A.R.E. program to be taught on military bases worldwide for dependents of 
service personnel.

On Tuesday, June 15 at 6:30 p.m., D.A.R.E. is sponsoring a community night 
event at Mackle Park to raise the awareness of the dangers of drug abuse. 
All community members are invited, with special emphasis on children, 
teenagers, and parents. The D.A.R.E officers will have a collector car show 
at the park and they will be available to answer any questions regarding 
drug abuse resistance education.

Marco Island Police officers will be on hand to meet with the children and 
their parents.

Food and beverage, sponsored by the Marco Island Kiwanis, will be available 
for purchase.

Marco Island Fire Fighters and Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) 
members will be preparing the hot dogs.

Musical entertainment will also be provided at the park.

"Be a good leader, stay In school, stay focused never give up! Stay off 
drugs, make good choices," said MC Cookie. "Violence can hurt people but 
worse it even can kill people, hands are for helping not for hurting. We 
all live in this world together, therefor we need to all get along no 
matter what color or religion we may be."

MC Cookie is a teenage rapper who will headline the musical entertainment 
at Mackle Park on Tuesday Night, as part of the D.A.R.E. Program.

Just prior to the start of the event, the D.A.R.E officers will gather in 
the parking lot of the Hilton hotel with their collector cars and there 
will be a short parade from the Marco Island Hilton hotel to Mackle Park. 
Any community members with collector vehicles that want to join in the 
parade and car show are welcome.

For additional information, call Sergeant Dennis Perry of the Collier 
County Sheriff's Office, Youth Relations Bureau, at 793-9260.

The D.A.R.E. program is taught to children in the last year of elementary 
school, either the fifth-or sixth-grade, depending on the school system. In 
Collier County, all public, private, and parochial school fifth-grade 
children are offered the program, presented by specially trained uniformed 
deputies of the Collier County Sheriff Office's Youth Relations Bureau to 
all participating schools in the county except those within the city limits 
of Naples. The Naples Police and Emergency Services Department serve those 
schools.

The classroom teacher is present during the classes and participates in the 
instructional activities.

The D.A.R.E program is taught during regular school hours for 10 to 17 
weeks, with classes meeting once per week. Each class lasts between 45 
minutes to one hour.

The State of Florida, like most states, requires school systems to provide 
drug education to all students. The D.A.R.E. program was developed to 
fulfill these requirements with the most effective and efficient education 
possible. The program utilizes lectures, questions and answers, and role 
playing activities to teach lessons that focus on the decision making 
process we all must learn and how each individual must consider the 
consequences of any choices made. Students learn how to handle the very 
real presence of peer pressure, and how to improve their self-esteem so 
they are better able to make positive choices for themselves. This 
interactive program is very effective in giving children the tools they 
will need to resist the pressures and temptations to experiment with drugs.
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D