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behind a podium has been replaced by an effort in which police are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."
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MAP posted-by: Derek