MORE THAN 500 CITY STUDENTS COMPLETE DRUG ABUSE RESISTANCE EDUCATION CLASS

Kids Ask DARE Officer To Autograph T-Shirts They Got After Course

Small groups of the more than 100 fifth-grade DARE graduates followed
instructor and police officer Jim Cook around the lobby of City Hall
asking him to autograph their new DARE T-shirts.

The Rainbow Elementary School graduates were among more than 500 city
students who completed the Drug Abuse Resistance Education course in
mid-December. After managing the national program for the Madison
Police Department and City Schools for six years, Cook will transfer
to conventional police enforcement duties. Officer Wayne Kamus will
replace him in the DARE and other crime prevention programs.

"I don't know why they want to mess up a perfectly good shirt by me
writing on it," Cook said as he borrowed a red pen to replace his
failing black marker. Pen in hand, he joined his graduates in the
basement of City Hall for refreshments.

'Don't Let Us Down'

Cook, Mayor Jan Wells, Police Chief Dan Busken and Madison City
Schools administrator Dee Fowler awarded the DARE diplomas before a
standing-room-only assembly of parents in the Madison City Council
chambers.

Busken said he had a personal appreciation for drug education because
he is a parent of school-age children.

"In the years ahead, you'll be tested with drugs. That's an awesome
responsibility," he told the ranks of graduates. "Don't let us down."

Busken said Cook had taught the in-school short course to 5,500
children in Madison and Madison County. County deputies assisted in
the Madison schools. Madison officers will help teach county schools
in the spring.

Cook described DARE's success to parents and thanked them for
supporting the effort. He said many other local DARE programs across
the country are not as productive.

"You can get city support," Cook said. "You can pump money into it.
But if you don't have the parents onboard, it won't work."

DARE graduates are eligible for the department's Kids Academy day camp
in the summer and a seventh-grade drug abuse program.