15 COWBOY GREATS JOIN DRUG FIGHT

The Dallas Cowboys are on a winning streak, both on and off the field.

I'm a lifelong, die-hard Cowboys fan, so obviously I'm grateful for last
week's Turkey Day victory over the Washington Redskins.

How sweet it was.

But the Cowboys are doing a far more honorable thing this week than winning
a football game. They're trying to help save lives.

Fifteen former Cowboy greats are joining hands this week with the Starfish
Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded four years ago to battle drug
and alcohol addiction. I'll tell you more about that shortly, including how
you can get involved and maybe have some fun at the same time.

First, as you may recall, a group of Plano parents launched Starfish in
1998 to combat teenage heroin addiction and overdose deaths.

The organization now has an office in Carrollton, along with a small staff,
and its reach has grown nationwide, said Belita Nelson, founder and
executive director.

"Thankfully, the heroin deaths have slowed, but, unfortunately, some in the
community have a short memory or want to pretend that the problem has gone
away," she said. "Make no mistake; it has not gone away."

She said that some national data indicate that the problem may be getting
worse.

"Starfish has been receiving between seven and 10 crisis calls per week,"
she said. "The crisis still exists."

Calls to agency

The main concern now is that the list of drugs is getting longer and the
kids are getting younger.

"We're deeply concerned that we are getting calls from younger and younger
kids," she said. "The drugs of choice have been more varied, ranging from
heroin to cocaine, X [or 'ecstasy'], marijuana and alcohol."

More and more families are affected.

"Substance abuse affects seven out of 10 families," Ms. Nelson said.
"There's still such a stigma around the topic, and yet it affects more than
half of us. We need to take this thing out of the closet and come up with
some real-world solutions."

Starfish is doing its part, in large part because Ms. Nelson knows how
devastating the problem can be.

Youth heroin crisis

"I had a son who was involved in the Plano heroin crisis," she said. "And
because I was a teacher, I had a couple of students who died in that."

Her son Jason managed to survive, and he's now working and taking college
classes, she said. He's 24.

"Everybody knows somebody who's dealing with this," Ms. Nelson explained.
"It's not just in Plano. Kids have been dying in South Dallas for 30 years,
and no one has been paying attention. They're still dying there. And we're
still getting calls from North Dallas, too."

Starfish plans reception

The need for adult intervention and public awareness is obvious. That's why
some of my all-time favorite Cowboys - Mel Renfro, Bob Lilly, Lee Roy
Jordan, Don Perkins, Rayfield Wright, Jethro Pugh, Robert Newhouse, Walt
Garrison, Billy Joe Dupree, Drew Pearson, Preston Pearson and Tony Dorsett
- - agreed to attend a VIP reception for the Starfish Foundation, Ms. Nelson
said.

That reception will be from 7 to 10 p.m. Wednesday at the Texas Stadium
Club. To attend, buy one of the 250 tickets that Starfish is selling for
the Dec. 21 Cowboys vs. Philadelphia Eagles game.

Or you can buy a ticket for the reception only. Visit the Starfish Web
site, http://www.starfishfoundation.org, or call 972-307-8929 for details.
Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones and the Credit Union of Texas
are the main sponsors of the reception. It's also worth noting that Mr.
Renfro is now the director of marketing and public relations for Starfish.

Tuinei remembered

Since former Cowboy Mark Tuinei "overdosed on heroin more than three years
ago, many current and former Cowboys, including myself, have taken a gut
check on the issue of what more we could be doing to help our community and
our nation fight substance abuse, addiction and overdose," Mr. Renfro said.

Sounds like a winner to me.