RED RIBBON RALLY DRIVES HOME ANTI-DRUG ABUSE THEME

On his first day as an anti-drug educator two years ago, Stanislaus
County sheriff's deputy Dennis Wallace found out how hard his new job
was going to be.

A fifth-grade girl came up to him and said, "I hate you. You arrested
my dad," Wallace said.

Wallace said he did not know the girl's father, who had been involved
in a drive-by shooting, but she associated his uniform with the loss
of her father and blamed the deputy.

Wallace continues to take an anti-drug message to the community.
Saturday, he was at the 15th annual Red Ribbon Week Rally and Fun
Faire, sponsored by the Stanislaus County Citizens Against Substance
Abuse Committee.

The skateboarding, bike-riding, cotton candy-eating, music-filled
event took place at Mellis Park in Modesto. Vicki Bauman, committee
president, estimated a turnout of 800.

Wallace and representatives from some two dozen agencies and groups
make up the Substance Abuse Committee, whose goal is to educate
children about the dangers of drugs.

"Statistics show if a child stays off any drug or alcohol before the
age of 15, then the chance of them trying it later is smaller,"
Bauman said.

Nine-year-old Juan Vera took time out from the fun to explain what he
has learned: "If you do drugs you can't think right, you can't see
straight."

He, like many of the other children, stood in line to sign anti-drug
pledges and receive raffle entries in return. Bauman estimated the
fair gave away about $3,000 worth of prizes.

Mellis Park, the site of this year's fair, has not always been as
drug-free. "About eight years ago this park was drug-infested," said
Doug Lemcke, one of 10 committee board members.

Police and community efforts are cleaning it up, and Lemcke said all
of Modesto should take note: "Some people think that going west of
Highway 99, they will be in harm's way. But that's not the case."

Deputy Wallace also is aware that progress in the drug war is possible.

Take the fifth-grader mentioned earlier, for example, who said she
hated the deputy. She sat in silence for four weeks as Wallace
presented his Drug Abuse Resistance Education program. Finally, she
started to raise her hand.

Come graduation day, 16 weeks later, the girl stood up in front of
her class, her mother and the deputy and read her final essay,
Wallace said.

"She said, 'I wish to thank deputy Wallace who taught me that what
you do when you grow up affects you and your whole family,'" Wallace
said.

She illustrated what she had learned by talking about her father,
who, she had come to realize, had done something wrong, Wallace said.

The girl said she would never use drugs or be involved in any
unlawful activities. "I was crying and her mother was crying. I'll
never forget that," Wallace said.

Dare Skate Party

The Modesto Police Department's School Services Unit will host a Drug
Awareness Resistance Education fund-raiser at Roller King on Monday.
The skate party will be from 6 to 8 p.m. at the rink at 2000 W.
Briggsmore Ave.

There is no age limit, and Roller King will contribute half of all
admissions to the DARE unit, Detective Doug Ridenour said.

Activities will include skating competitions between youths and DARE
officers. The Police Department's Traffic Unit will be on hand with
radar guns to determine the fastest skaters, and a police K-9 team
will put on a demonstration.

The DARE unit provides anti-drug and anti-violence education to more
than 10,000 youngsters at more than 40 schools in Modesto each year.