It seems a Cumberland Heights Elementary fifth-grader and her D.A.R.E. instructor, Mike Davis, have solved the mystery of the clothes dryer and missing sock -- whatever you put in is what you get out. Ashley Lallo, one of three students chosen to read her Drug Abuse Resistance Education essay to nearly 2,000 peers during Thursday's graduation ceremony, told the crowd of parents and dignitaries that violent video games, television and movies generate violence in people. Ashley's essay focused on the four prime directives in D.A.R.E. -- saying no to drugs, remaining free from violence, resisting peer pressure and staying out of youth gangs. [continues 319 words]
A new city-run program to rid the streets of dirty needles and used condoms is `irresponsible' and risky, charges the head of a new medical biohazard waste recovery company. And the Calgary local of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers is also worried about the city's plan to use up to 30 old Canada Post mailboxes, which have been repainted yellow, as disposal units for needles. `While we applaud the initiative taken in the city in terms of dealing with the disposal of needles, we have a grave concern about the safety of this procedure with our membership in terms of confusion between old and new mailboxes,' said Joan Thomson, the union's education officer. [continues 437 words]
A new educational awareness campaign - the first of its kind in Canada - aimed at ridding Calgary's streets, playgrounds, schoolyards and parks of dirty needles and used condoms was launched by the city Tuesday. `I don't believe that the citizens of Calgary have any idea how bad this problem is,' Don Wilson, a city firefighter and hazardous materials officer, told a news conference. `Not only do we get calls from residential areas, but we've even had people call to say that they've found used needles right under playground equipment or jammed into the ground, with the sharp end sticking up.' [continues 237 words]
Dirty needles and used condoms left strewn about in inner-city school yards and playgrounds pose a serious danger for young students of at least two elementary schools and are becoming a citywide concern, says a city report. The city is taking action to address the escalating issue of debris from prostitution and intravenous drug use. It is developing a co-ordinated citywide response to tackle the problem. The fire department is willing to assume a leadership role in co-ordinating a response. [continues 521 words]
