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."