HER CAUSE: PREVENTING DRUG ABUSE

Task Force's Leader Retires

In 1982, Joan A. Spinelli was working in one of the few drug treatment
centers, not only in Monmouth County but, in the whole state, the Monmouth
Chemical Dependency Treatment Center.

At about that same time, two local students were killed in a
drunken-driving accident in New York state, and Spinelli started to ask why
there were no programs that dealt with the issues involving young people,
drinking and driving, and substance abuse.

Soon, Spinelli, along with 13 students from different Monmouth County high
schools, formed the Monmouth County High School Task Force on Drinking and
Driving, which became one of the first organizations to deal with issues
facing teenagers.

"At the time, we really saw an increase in the the number of students
drinking and driving," Spinelli, 68, who lives in Middletown, said
recently. "We wanted to do something countywide and get out the idea that
students didn't need drugs and alcohol to have a good time."

The task force continues to this day and still serves as a model for other
student organizations throughout the state. However, the organization will
have to continue now without the input of Spinelli, who officially retired
last month.

Barry Johnson, the director of the Monmouth County Division of Alcohol and
Drug Abuse Services, first met Spinelli in the late 1970s, and he said
recently that she has touched the lives of thousands of students.

"Joan liked dealing with the kids, and she knew how to talk to them,"
Johnson said. "Those kids then turned around and talked to other students
and that helped make a real impact on the dangers of drinking and driving."

After several years, the task force became part of the Monmouth County
Prosecutor's Office, and Spinelli said that former Prosecutor John Kaye
helped the organization grow.

Spinelli's replacement was supposed to be announced by new Prosecutor Luis
A. Valentin last week, but there was no one officially named as of Friday.

What started with just a handful of students, eventually blossomed into 125
to 150 students participating in the county every year. Membership in the
task force was open to all students, whether they attended private or
public school, and gave the teenagers an alternative that they never had
before.

The task force eventually started handing out scholarships, hosted an
annual calender contest and spurred a number of awareness campaigns about
the pitfalls of drug and alcohol abuse.

Through the years, Spinelli said she dealt with just about every hot-button
issue, whether it was underage drinking, drinking and driving, cocaine and
marijuana abuse, or steroid use.

"It seems like every five years we had a specific problem and then
something else would take its place," Spinelli said.

Throughout the early years of the program, notables like Nancy Reagan and
former Gov. Thomas H. Kean praised the task force's efforts. Other counties
also followed with their own programs.

In retirement, Spinelli said that she hopes to keep active and volunteer
her time to other organizations that deal with dependency and abuse.

"I started with a handful of kids and now they have grown up and they are
now lawyers and doctors," said Spinelli, adding that watching her students
grow into adults has been one of the joyful parts of the job. "The kids I
used to know now have kids of their own."