Pubdate: Sun, 9 Dec 2007
Source: Southern Illinoisan (Carbondale, IL)
Copyright: 2007 Southern Illinoisan
Contact:  http://www.TheSouthern.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1430
Author: Tara Fasol, The Southern
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/dare.htm (D.A.R.E.)

DARE PROGRAM STILL ACTIVE IN REGION

MOUNT VERNON - The Drug Abuse Resistance Education program - known 
for the slogan "Just Say No" -is a life lesson, according to officer 
Ray Gilbert with the Mount Vernon Police Department.

"DARE is alive," he said. "DARE is very much alive in Mount Vernon."

Gilbert serves as the school resource officer and the DARE officer. 
He said although some communities are no longer participating in the 
national program, Mount Vernon considers it an important part of the 
ongoing war against drugs.

"The City of Mount Vernon and especially the police department and 
Chief (Chris) Mendenall think the DARE program is very important to 
the city," he said. "I took it over two years ago from a guy that 
retired.  They have been doing it since the '90s."

Gilbert said DARE is a city or county program funded by the operating 
agency not the state.

In Mount Vernon the program serves about 225 fifth grade students.

"It is a broad spectrum," Gilbert said. "Some children come from a 
background where they know absolutely nothing about drugs, and some 
children know a great deal about them. The good thing about our DARE 
program is that it is tailored to cover all levels of knowledge with 
the students."

Gilbert said the types of drugs most commonly seen in Southern 
Illinois have changed but the approach to teaching students has not.

"When it comes to educating them on the drugs the same principles 
apply," he said. "I don't doubt 10 years from now that there will be 
a whole new kind of drug out there. We will still tell them it is 
illegal and unhealthy."

The program in Mount Vernon is based on a preset curriculum provided 
by DARE America.

"That is a workbook with individual lessons," Gilbert said.

The program lasts 10 weeks per group, and educating all of the 
children in Gilbert's coverage area takes nearly the entire school year.

"I still see students that talk about going through the DARE program 
and how much it meant to them," he said.  "Students from the year 
before will come up and give me a hug and say how much they miss it."

Jackson County also conducts a DARE program, and Officer Mark Wilson 
said the county has been teaching kids the benefits of an anti-drug 
life for around 12 years.

In Franklin County DARE served as the primary drug education program 
for several years but has since been discontinued because of a lack 
of personnel and funding.

"We ran out of bodies," said Franklin County Sheriff Bill Wilson. "We 
had to raise about $2,500 a year.  Benton started it in the '80s, and 
we picked it up in the early '90s. We ran it up until a couple of years ago."

Wilson said the county had to raise the money to conduct the program. 
He noted that between 11 and 12 schools participated at the time of 
the program's end.

"It takes a lot of time," Wilson said. "By the time we did 
everything, it was all one officer was doing."

Williamson County Sheriff Tom Cundiff said Herrin, Crab Orchard, and 
Johnston City school districts have school resource officers who are 
in the schools each day.

"We don't have DARE," he said. "We have three officers in the school 
full time. We don't have a routine thing that we do every day. But 
they are there every day." 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake