Pubdate: Thu, 24 Feb 2005 Source: Ironwood Daily Globe (MI) Copyright: 2005 Bliss Communication Inc. Contact: http://www.ironwoodglobe.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2266 Author: Ralph Ansami Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/dare.htm (D.A.R.E.) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth) DARE PROGRAM RESUMES HURLEY -- The Iron County Sheriff's Department has begun another session of Drug Abuse Resistance Education classes for Hurley and Mercer students. They are being taught by sheriff's department deputy Paul Samardich to fifth graders at Mercer and Hurley sixth graders. Although the DARE classes are designed to show youngsters the ill effects of alcohol and drug abuse, Samardich noted they also urge kids to make sound decisions in the face of peer pressure. Classes at both schools will run for 12 weeks, said Iron County Sheriff Robert Bruneau, who has been a strong supporter of the program. He's watched bonds develop among his deputies and their students. The program will again conclude with awards presentations at both schools and picnics for the youngsters. The scope of the DARE program, founded in Los Angeles in 1983, has changed. DARE is reinventing itself as part of a major national research study that promises to help teachers and administrators cope with school violence and terrorism, among other issues. The old-style approach to prevention of having an officer lecture behind a podium has been replaced by an effort in which police are trained as "coaches" who support kids. New DARE students are shown, via stunning imagery, tangible proof of how drugs and alcohol affect the chemistry of the brain. Charlie Parsons, executive director of DARE America, said, "Prevention in the 21st century school house will need to be effective, diverse, accountable and mean more things to more people, particularly with the safety issues that have emerged since Columbine and terrorist alerts." - --- MAP posted-by: Derek