Pubdate: Wed, 21 Jun 2006
Source: Detroit News (MI)
Copyright: 2006, The Detroit News
Contact:  http://detnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/126
Author: Karen Bouffard, The Detroit News
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/dare.htm (D.A.R.E.)

WAYNE SAYS NO TO D.A.R.E

City Cuts Officer's Job, Joins Others Across Mich. Folding The 
Anti-Drug Program Due To Costs.

WAYNE -- A program that teaches fifth- and sixth-graders how to 
resist drugs may become the latest casualty in the economic crisis 
that has Michigan municipalities and school districts scrambling to cut costs.

The city of Wayne approved a budget that will eliminate a police 
officer to run the city's D.A.R.E. program -- the national Drug 
Awareness Resistance Education Program that teaches kids how to say 
"no" to alcohol and drugs.

Howell also will ax its D.A.R.E. program in the fall, and Scott 
Theede, president of the Michigan DARE Officers Association, said 
more communities could follow suit before school starts in September.

"When departments start cutting back, a lot of times D.A.R.E. is the 
first thing to go," Theede said. "A lot of times the D.A.R.E. program 
is on a year-to-year basis, and departments won't know (whether the 
program will continue) until it gets close to the school year."

Wayne Mayor Al Haidous blamed cutbacks in state funding to 
municipalities, combined with rising energy costs, for close to an 
$800,000 shortfall in the city's budget. The City Council voted to 
eliminate two police officers in order to save money. And with fewer 
officers, there won't be one to spare for the D.A.R.E. program.

"All of the operation costs went up because of the rising energy 
costs," Haidous said. "At this present time, people are losing their 
jobs, and going to less-paying jobs. We're a blue-collar town -- we 
can't raise our taxes because people can't afford it."

Wayne Police Chief John Williams said he is holding out hope that the 
city will find a way to avoid the layoffs before school starts.

"There are still talks going on," Williams said. "We're still hoping 
to work something out."

The D.A.R.E. program has drawn some criticism nationally from people 
who don't believe it's an effective deterrent against substance 
abuse. In Dearborn, police eliminated D.A.R.E. several years ago and 
replaced it with an alternative program. Still, many police officers 
and educators think the program works.

Wayne-Westland Community Schools Superintendent Greg Baracy said even 
kids as old as high school age could benefit from D.A.R.E.

"We're obviously very disappointed that we won't have D.A.R.E., but 
we understand the financial difficulties the city is experiencing," 
Baracy said.

Fourteen-year-old Josh Wilcox, an eighth-grader at Hoover Middle 
School in Taylor, said D.A.R.E. taught him what to do if somebody 
offers him drugs.

"It's hard to refuse when there's a whole bunch of people standing 
there telling you to do it, but you just have to get through it and 
don't" accept the drugs, Josh said. "I was hanging out with a couple 
friends and they had marijuana. They asked us if we wanted some and 
we just said no.

"I thought about it beforehand, and thought about how I would say no."

Officer Ken Spratke, who has been the D.A.R.E. officer in Wayne for 
the past four years, said kids in the program learn how to think 
before they act, and to be aware of the decisions they make.

"My biggest concern would be that they don't get to learn how to make 
those decisions," Spratke said. "That's a skill they can use whether 
it be about drugs or alcohol, or any other facet of their life."
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman