OFFICERS WAIT TABLES FOR D.A.R.E.

Clarksville police officers are going to earn money to pay for T-shirts for
graduates of their drug awareness program one tip at a time.

Tip-a-Cop will be at Logan's Roadhouse from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday
to raise money for for schools' Drug Abuse Resistance Education program.

This year, funding for D.A.R.E. T-shirts was cut. Police say the
shirts are needed as a reward and to help send a public anti-drug message.

"It's giving the children something to take with them as a graduate of
D.A.R.E. They take a pledge to be drug-free, and this is a way to
demonstrate it," said police spokesman Lt. Geno Grubbs.

So, officers will be assisting servers in serving lunch to earn a tip
to contribute to the $9,000 needed to buy 2,200 T-shirts.

"(The lunches) are very enjoyable. You get to know the public. The
public gets to know police officers, and the end result is everything
raised goes to a good cause," Grubbs said.

Fifth-graders across Clarksville will graduate from the program at the
end of the school year.

Implemented in Clarksville schools in 1989, D.A.R.E. teaches students
to 'just say no to drugs,' remain free from violence, resist peer
pressure and stay out of youth gangs.

D.A.R.E. T-shirts will be designed this year with a special emblem to
honor Fort Campbell troops.

Those who cannot attend Tip-a-Cop can make contributions to the
program at any Legends Bank.