FOURTH-GRADER DARES TO BECOME HERO

Elijah Thomas uses lessons learned in a school program to keep drugs
away from his peers.

LARGO - When 11-year-old Elijah Thomas found a plastic bag with a
white powder in it, he knew just what to do.

"Walk away," said the Skyview Elementary School fourth-grader. "Tell a
grown-up who is responsible."

And that's exactly what Elijah did on Sept. 10 when he found a
questionable substance in a plastic bag as he walked to a youth
football game. He told Pinellas County sheriff's Deputy Clinton
McKnight, who was working at the game.

Together they went back and located the packet on the southwest corner
of Ridgecrest Elementary School.

The powder tested positive for cocaine. Deputies say the 8 grams of
cocaine had a street value of $800.

Elijah's good decision has not gone unnoticed. On Wednesday, Sheriff
Jim Coats honored Elijah, presenting him with a plaque, a medal, a
T-shirt, a goody bag and some gift certificates.

Elijah also has been invited to receive a crime prevention award at
the sheriff's Community Services Awards banquet on Saturday at the
Belleview Biltmore Resort & Spa.

Sgt. Dan Zsido said he thought it was important to honor Elijah for
helping get drugs off the street.

"Narcotics around a school could have been disastrous," said Zsido,
who works in the sheriff's narcotics division. "Elijah did the right
thing and possibly saved the life of another child."

When he saw the bag, Elijah worried that other kids might find
it.

"They might try it and get sick, or try something stupid," he said.
"They could get hooked on it."

As far as knowing what to do when he found the packet, Thomas credits
the DARE program with teaching him what to do. DARE stands for Drug
Abuse Resistance Education and is taught in 80 percent of the school
districts in America according to sheriff's Deputy Ken Stevens, a DARE
instructor.

Though the DARE program doesn't teach lessons on drug abuse prevention
until the fifth grade, the lessons for kids in grades K-4 emphasize
good decision-making, Stevens said. Instructors even adapt the DARE
acronym to help kids remember how to deal with unfamiliar
circumstances:

Define the problem.

Assess your options.

Respond with the best choice.

Evaluate and review.

That last step, said Stevens, helps kids think about how they
did.

He asks them to think, "Did I make a good choice? Can I make a better
choice next time?"

"Elijah did the right thing," he said.

Sgt. Pat Alvarez, who heads the sheriff's DARE program, said she was
thrilled that Elijah applied the lessons he learned.

"Elijah deserves to be recognized for his courage to step forward and
do the right thing," she said. "We are proud of his actions and the
example he has set for his peers and adults alike."

Elijah sees things in more practical terms.

"Don't mess with what you don't know," he said. "And don't pick up
nothing off the ground."