ANTI-DRUG EFFORT OPENED DOORS

KAHALU'U -- Community involvement awakened by an anti-drug effort in this
rural Windward area has begun to spill over into other areas, with residents
taking greater interest in their neighborhoods by volunteering more,
officials say.

Participation has more than doubled in KEY Project's Books and Breakfast
program at Kahalu'u Elementary School, and area churches are getting more
involved in other activities, said Bob Nakata, who heads KEY Project, which
provides educational and recreation programs for children and families.

But residents want to sustain interest in their anti-drug crusade and boost
the fires of community involvement even more with a second sign waving
scheduled for Friday.

Nakata credits the increase in volunteerism at area schools and churches to
the anti-drug campaign that attracted hundreds of people who stood together
to hold signs on May 2 declaring that they will not tolerate the use or sale
of "ice," or crystal methamphetamine, near their homes. Since mid-March,
these same people have packed three community meetings to define and plan
strategies for dealing with drugs.

Nakata said some of these people may have also showed up at the school
yesterday. Six adults participated in the reading program when at times
there's just one, he said. Plus, 70 children were on hand when often there
are 20 or 30. "I have a feeling as community people got involved with the
sign-holding, it opened the way for them to get involved in more things,"
Nakata said, adding that one grandparent who participated in the
sign-holding said he was doing it for his grandchildren. "I may be reaching,
but I think some of that is going on. People are becoming hopeful that there
is a better future for their children."

Nakata said reading to children at schools is one way to fight drug use.
It's a preventive program, he said.

"What we're doing is like a fire brigade," he said. "(There's) a fire
burning and we're trying to put it out. What we have to do is prevent the
fire in the first place, and Books and Breakfast is a step in that
direction."

Holding signs is another kind of prevention that creates peer pressure,
Nakata said. It also will keep people involved and will let drug abusers
know the community hasn't lost interest.

Kahalu'u Elementary principal Amy Arakaki said she, too, thinks the town
meeting on ice has spurred interest in volunteerism. There's also an
incentive for children to participate. They'll get a free uniform T-shirt
when the school switches to uniforms next year.

"(Increased participation) has to do with many different factors," Arakaki
said. "Not only do parents want to be more aware. They want to help the
children be more resilient from the time they're little and not wait until
they are teenagers when they get in drug situations."

Sidebar:

Sign Waving

* What: Anti-drug Campaign

* Where: Kamehameha Highway from Kahalu'u through Ko'olauloa

* When: 4 to 6 p.m. Friday