KIDS COMMIT TO DRUG-FREE LIFE

Pledge Part of Cabell Sheriff's Don't Horse Around Program

HUNTINGTON -- Barbara Bias' first-grade class at Meadows Elementary took a
pledge to remain drug free Wednesday afternoon.

The first-graders raised their right hands and made the pledge in front of
Cabell County Sheriff Kim Wolf, Capt. Beth Brumfield of the Huntington
Police Department and Safety Dog, a 6-foot-tall dog with a head the size of
a bean bag chair.

The pledge is potentially a small victory for the community, but if history
is a guide, about half of the students in Bias' class will have tried drugs
by the time they graduate high school, according to statistics released by
the Cabell County Sheriff's Department.

A program called Don't Horse Around with Drugs aims to reduce that
statistic, said Cabell County Sheriff Kim Wolfe. It has been added to the
arsenal of drug education efforts that already exists in the school system,
according to Benny Thomas, Safe and Drug Free Schools coordinator for
Cabell County Schools.

The program's strength comes from memory association, Wolfe said.

After the students make the pledge, they are taken outside, where they are
allowed to interact with horses. Each child in the class gets a photograph
of themselves sitting on the horse. The horses were once used in the
mounted patrol of the Huntington Police Department, Wolfe said.

The photograph, Wolfe said, is there to help the kids remember the lessons
learned that day.

The program was developed by the Sheriff's Department, the Appalachia High
Intensity Drug Trafficking Area and Marshall University, he said. This is
the first year for the program, which is designed for students in
kindergarten and first grade, he said.

"This is a pilot program," Wolfe said. "It is one that we think will be
effective."

Teaching kids about the danger of drugs at a young age is important, Bias said.

Bias has taught first- and second-graders for 39 years. Drug education was
something that did not appear until the latter part of her career, she
said. During her career she has had experience with students that have
moved on to disaster.

She still holds on to a picture of a bunny rabbit drawn by one of her
students more than 10 years ago. The student moved away to Chicago and fell
in with the "wrong crowd," she said.

He was eventually killed.

"I show my students the picture and tell them his story," she said.

The picture is much like the use of horses in Wolfe's program, she said.

"It is a visual aid that helps them remember," she said.

Programs need to start with youngsters in order to avoid teenage drug
problems, said Cabell County Juvenile Court Referee Mike Woelfel.

"To really combat substance abuse you have to target young children. It's
extremely hard to modify behavior of a 17-year-old," he said. "I think that
the Sheriff's program is on target with addressing that particular
population of youth."

As the juvenile court referee, Woelfel hears cases for juveniles who have
been arrested for various crimes. One thing that many of the juveniles
bring into his courtroom is substance abuse, he said.

"My experience tells me that a very large percentage of delinquency cases
involve substance abuse," he said. "Whether it's a case of fighting,
stealing a parent's car or other conduct when a child is under the influence."

Students in school are now regularly talked to about the dangers of drugs
by counselors, teachers and others throughout school, he said.

"All the way through, we keep drug education going," he said.

During the next week, the Don't Horse Around with Drugs program is
scheduled to visit Milton, Peyton, Guyandotte, Village of Barboursville,
Central City and Highlawn elementary schools.