CHILDREN IN GRADES K-8 INVITED TO PARTICIPATE IN POSTER CONTEST

Message Students Should Take Away Is Drugs Are Bad

Red Ribbon Week in Madison is in late October, but the deadline for the
associated Madison city and county poster contest is fast approaching.

Juli Gerrits, director of Madison DON'T (Drugs Offer No Tomorrow), said
first-place entries from each participating school are due in her office by
Oct. 1.

The contest is open to children in with grades K-8, said Gerrits. Posters
will be judged at individual schools to determine first-, second- and
third-place winners in each grade, who will earn prizes from her
organization and Domino's Pizza.

First-place winners from throughout the county, including those in
Huntsville city schools, will be honored at an Oct. 23 rally at 4:30 p.m.
at Joe Davis Stadium. Entertainment will be provided, and the event is free
and open to the public. Posters should be created on one-half size standard
poster paper making use of any artistic medium, "be it paint, color
(crayons), collage, (etc.), to represent the message that using drugs is
bad, or that not using drugs is good and healthy," said Gerrits.

Red Ribbon Week takes place throughout the nation during the last week of
October, said Gerrits, but Madison city and county schools have scheduled
activities for the school week that runs Oct. 20-24.

Red Ribbon Week honors the memory of Enrique "Kiki" Camarena, an undercover
agent for the the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

The DEA sent Camarena to work undercover in Mexico investigating a major
drug cartel believed to include officers in the Mexican army, police and
government. On Feb. 7, 1985, Camarena, 37, left his office to meet his wife
for lunch. Five men appeared at his side and shoved him in a car. One month
later, Camarena's body was found in a shallow grave. He had been tortured
to death.

In honor of Camarena's memory and his battle against illegal drugs, friends
and neighbors began to wear red badges of satin. Parents, sick of the
destruction of alcohol and other drugs, had begun forming coalitions. Some
of these new coalitions took Camarena as their model and embraced his
belief that one person can make a difference. These coalitions also adopted
the symbol of Camarena's memory the red ribbon.

The National Family Partnership organized the first Red Ribbon Campaign in
1988.

Although schools have become major participants in the local Red Ribbon
campaign, Gerrits would it like to expand to other parts of the community.

"What I would like to see emphasized is that even though most everything
happens (with the campaign) in the schools, that was not the original
intent of the Red Ribbon campaign," she said. "It was meant to be a
community project."

Families and businesses can show their support for the campaign with simple
measures, such as placing a red ribbon on their front doors and/or mailboxes.

"It will have that much more an impact on our youth," she said. "It doesn't
take a lot. The kids are receiving the message in school. When they see
their entire community covered in red ribbons, (they will know) that's what
the community norms are."

For more information on Red Ribbon Week, visit the Web site at madisondont.org.