CLARK COUNTY ENDS DARE FUNDING

The Drug Abuse Resistance Education program won't return to several
Clark County schools next year.

The Clark County Board was asked to take a second look at the DARE
program after it was removed from the 2004 budget in November. Despite
backing from teachers, students and police officers, the proposal
failed Tuesday in a 12-16 vote. To reinstate the program, 22 votes
were required.

The county offered the program to fifth-grade students in several
communities, including Greenwood, Loyal, Neillsville, Thorp, Owen and
Withee.

Others don't need the county money. Colby and Abbotsford have provided
the program with local police officers, which will continue, said
Ronald Gosse, chief of the Colby-Abbotsford Police Department.

"I like to have a Colby-Abbotsford Police officer go to the schools
and have direct contact with students on a regular basis," he said.
"If they have a problem, they know they can talk to Don Schmidt."

Though effectiveness eludes measurement, response to DARE shows its
importance, say its supporters.

"Parents said they have dinner conversations about DARE," said
Supervisor Frieda Rollins of Granton, who supports the program. "If we
can't take $20,000 out of the general fund to do something for our
kids, then something is wrong with the County Board."

In a budget crunch, something had to go, and the Finance and Illegal
Tax Committee didn't have funding to even evaluate the program's
effect on drug abuse, said Supervisor Elvin Fleming, the committee's
chairman. The program would actually cost more than $26,000, according
to the resolution.

"We can only dip into our fund balances one more year, then we have no
fund balances," he said. "These programs are a luxury we simply cannot
afford. ...

"In every school, the state currently requires health education, which
includes a thorough drug and alcohol program," Fleming said.

DARE program has kept kids away from dangerous behavior, but a tight
budget forces tough choices, said John Gaier, Neillsville School
District administrator.

"When we lose an avenue in delivering the message, that makes it a
little tougher," he said.

Some kids may seek drugs regardless of DARE because of parental
influence, said Supervisor Carl Kallberg of Owen.

"Within a 2-mile radius of my house, about three quarters of the
people I know smoke marijuana," he said. "At the age when kids want to
start experimenting, they'll think, 'Mom and Dad does it, I might as
well try it, too.'"