DANCE TROUPE HELPS STOMP DRUG ABUSE

Pinkie "Ms. Pinkie" Windsor says her dancing troupe gives children a source
of self-esteem they can use to combat peer pressure, such as using drugs.

"We're teaching structure from the ground up, structured children become
structured adults," she said.

"If you drink a cup of the dance we're giving," Windsor added with a smile,
"you'll do all right."

She runs Excel Dance Company out of the Baranco-Clark YMCA on Thomas H.
Delpit Drive. At a block party Saturday, she juggled a slew of dance-team
mixes from a makeshift stage tent while yelling complex position
instructions to children perhaps 3 feet tall.

"We're using dance as a way of helping people feel positive," she said.
"You cannot be in our company if you don't do the right thing not
sometimes, but all the time."

That means academic achievement and keeping a positive attitude -- and
helping out others instead of just yourself.

"It's like that Nike slogan, 'Just Do It'," Windsor said. "I like Nike --
I'm wearing some right now. But it's not just do it for yourself. Don't
just do it; just do it right."

Katherine Martin, executive director of O'Brien House on Main Street, had
similar thoughts.

"This is an event for young people who are doing the right thing," she
said. "We've got both drug-abuse treatment people" -- a methadone clinic
worker was giving out literature -- "and prevention," Martin said, pointing
at several D.A.R.E. officers from the Police Department and the City
Constable's Office.

Rosie-Mary Beathley, a Girl Scout and student at Baton Rouge Magnet High
School, said she wanted to "help support people who've quit drinking and
using drugs. They deserve our support."

O'Brien House, a six-month inpatient treatment center for recovering
alcoholics and addicts, has been helping put people back into society since
1971. Martin said the fourth annual block party, which included an
early-morning 5K race and 1-mile walk/run, got started as a way to reach
out to the community.

"It's a place where people can come to get away from drugs -- it's a hope
for a new tomorrow," said Anne Robertson Carra, a Girl Scout leader.

The Girl Scouts took the stage about 9:30 and got lot of attention and
applause for their cheer, before making way for the dancers.