SPECIAL ACTIVITIES STRESS DANGERS OF DRUGS

Although the color pink has become the new power color, red was the
most popular color last week.

Schools across the Twin Counties celebrated Red Ribbon Week to
encourage students and the community to stay drug free. Students and
faculty wore red during the week along with red ribbons to remember
Enrique "Kiki" Camarena, who died investigating a major drug cartel in
Mexico.

"We learned not to do drugs," said Baskerville Elementary School
fifth-grader Deja Tillery, 10. "Drugs are bad for you. You can die
from them."

The weeklong event filled with different activities such as wearing
shades to "Shade out Drugs" and hats to "Put a Cap on Drugs" is part
of the school systems' Safe and Drug Free Schools program.

"I think this has a positive impact," said Anne Mitchell, Baskerville
Elementary principal. "They are easily influenced at this age. Some
have older siblings or live in communities where older kids are
involved in drugs. We're trying to teach them early not to put
anything in their bodies that could harm them."

While students dressed up during the week to show their support of
saying no to drugs, Baskerville Elementary students were addressed
Friday by Edgecombe County Sheriff James Knight after their annual
parade was canceled because of the weather. Knight -- a former DARE
officer -- spoke to the students about choices and the consequences of
those choices.

"All communities are touched by the use of drugs either directly or
indirectly. And this can help," Knight said. "(Camarena) had in mind
one person can make a difference, and he proved that with Red Ribbon
Week.

"These students are not too young to start thinking about what they
want to be in life, and how drugs can affect that."

At D.S. Johnson Elementary School, red bows graced the lampposts
showing the community, parents and students it was a drug-free school,
said school officials. But that was the exterior. On the interior of
the school, students and faculty wore ribbons that read "Hooked on
Books, Not Drugs" and wrist bands.

"In some communities, these children see negativity every day," said
D.S. Johnson Principal Gloria Whitley-Williams. "These children see
drugs and gangs as being prosperous, but we want children to know
education is the way to be successful because if your mental state is
not working, you can't function at all."

D.S. Johnson not only had a week filled with activities, but a visit
from the Rocky Mount Police Department, where K-9 officers sniffed out
drugs that were planted on the auditorium stage.

"It was a good way to tell people not to do drugs. They can mess up
your body or even kill you," said Baskerville fifth-grader Xavier Cobure, 10.

Xavier said the students learned the difference between good drugs and
bad drugs. Good drugs, he said, are the ones prescribed by doctors so
people can get better, like if they had a cold. But bad drugs, he
said, can harm the body.