FINLEY TASK FORCE SEEMS TO HAVE DECIDED ON DARE

Waukesha County Executive Daniel Finley should be praised for daring to
dare DARE.

Talk about sacred cows ... this one has been milked by politicians for
years. They are striving to be known as the ones who protect our society
from the bane of drug and alcohol use.

Most DARE proponents believe the program is worth any amount of taxpayer
dollars if even one person can be saved from addiction.

That sounds great. But it smacks of being disingenuous when the same people
argue for spending youth aids and other state funds on incarceration rather
than prevention programs. And that includes programs with much more proof
of success than DARE.

The only problem may be the committee that Finley appointed to give this
program what he said should be an "empirical and objective" analysis.

Each member of the committee expressed some level of support for DARE at a
recent committee session, which hardly lends an air of objectivity to the
committee work, which is supposed to conclude by Aug. 15.

The task force consists of Chairman David Swan, Waukesha County Board
supervisor; Noel Adams, Menomonee Falls School District alcohol and other
drug abuse coordinator; Barry Tuttle, Mukwonago School District AODA
coordinator; Sharon Wisnewski, West Allis Cooperative Educational Service
Agency AODA coordinator and Bill Beglinger, a Waukesha police officer.

Claudia Roska, executive director for the Addiction Resource Council Inc.,
Waukesha, was appointed as a non-voting staff member.

Waukesha County Sheriff Bill Kruziki is drawing an even deeper line in the
sand, saying the county ought to hold an advisory referendum on the DARE
program.

Critics have said the sheriff and district attorney are strong supporters
because they are able to use the program as a political tool, handing out
diplomas and conferring some feeling of confidence for parents.

"We teach DARE to 5,000 students for $142,000 in tax levy, using 3 1/2
people total," Kruziki said. "I dedicate 114 people to the jail and spend
$8 million a year to keep people in jail. So I don't know how you could
justify getting rid of DARE even if you can't prove it works.

"It is a philosophical prioritization," the sheriff said.

"Taxpayers today demand results," Finley said in opening comments to the
task force. "They want to know that the money they spend yields the results
they expect."

But there are already questions as to whether this task force has made up
its mind on DARE and whether it will give it the kind of study Finley
requested.

The committee needs to look at the facts with an open mind and without all
the politics.