HOOKED ON FISHING, NOT DRUGS

Drug dealers offer kids cocaine, marijuana and the hallucinogenic Ecstasy.
Danny Casey counters by offering bass, catfish and carp.

Casey leads the drug-prevention program "Hooked on Fishing, Not on Drugs"
at Fairland West Middle School. The program provides students with a
positive alternative to drugs through angling, combining the teaching of
sport fishing, environmental conservation and drug prevention into one package.

"We've had a good response," said Casey, a special education teacher at
Fairland West. "We have about 15 kids in the program and there's a waiting
list. I'd like to have all of them, but I just can't handle that many kids
at one time, yet."

The program is used in a variety of ways by schools, churches, police
departments and youth organizations. It meets drug prevention objectives by
building students' self-esteem. One of its goals is to bring families
closer together. Through the program, students also learn how to fish and
about safety, ethics, fish behavior, fish biology and fish management.

"Students develop respect and responsibility for themselves, the community
and the environment," said David Bright of the Ohio Department of Natural
Resources.

Fairland requires students to maintain at least a 2.0 grade point average
to participate.

Fairland West's program meets for one hour after school each Tuesday,
Wednesday and Thursday as part of the 21st Century Afterschool Program. The
group also conducts field trips, such as the one taken last week to Cave
Run Lake near Morehead, Ky., where students visited a fish hatchery.

A lecture session it isn't. While guest speakers are brought in, Hooked on
Fishing is hands on. The students make their own fishing lures, tinker with
rods and reels and, of course, go fishing. The students also benefit from
an aquarium in Casey's classroom, where a variety of local species is
displayed.

"We wanted to make it realistic," Casey said. "We caught catfish, bluegill
and other fish so that the kids could see how they react."

Casey said Hooked on Fishing exceeds all criteria established by the U.S.
Department of Education for successful drug prevention programs. Schools in
more than 25 states offer the program. Sponsored nationally by the Future
Fishermen Foundation, National Sportfishing Association and the Department
of Natural Resources, Fairland's Hooked on Fishing program also benefits
from a variety of local sponsors. The Driftwood Lure Co. donated plastic
lures. The SPRO/Gamakatsu Co. contributed hooks and hats. Tacklemaking.com
donated paints and lure kits. The Ohio DNR and the 21st Century Afterschool
Program donated fishing rods and reels. The Triple Fish Co. gave fishing
line. Keep Alive provided an aerator to keep fish alive.

Casey credits his volunteer assistant Danny Collins and Chesapeake attorney
Richard Meyers for helping make the program work. Meyers will teach a
fly-fishing class for the group.

Casey and Collins have big plans for the group.

"We're going to visit local tackle stores and will be working to clean some
local streams up this spring," Casey said. "The Mountaineer BassMaster
fishing club in Barboursville and the Fishers of Men brought in old rods
and reels this summer at tournaments so we could do a thing called
Castaways for Kids. It is where we refurbished them (fishing rods) to give
to kids. We'll continue to do that, too."