CITY PROMOTES "BE DRUG FREE" MESSAGE DURING RED RIBBON BREAKFAST

In helping to spread the "Be Drug Free" message, the City of Fontana
celebrated its 11th annual Red Ribbon Breakfast on Oct. 25 at Sierra
Lakes Clubhouse.

More than 200 attendees filled the room, and included in the crowd
were a group of middle school and high school students.

Red Ribbon Week became recognized nationally in 1988, and is the
nation's largest drug prevention program that reaches millions of
Americans as they wear red ribbons and pledge to live a drug-free life.

"It's no longer just about drugs," said Mayor Mark Nuaimi.

"As parents, it's easy to let the media occupy our kids. We're too
busy to monitor their television and Internet intake," he said.

Nuaimi compared pornography and drugs, and how they both make lasting
impressions on the brain.

"The physical effect of pornography is the same on the child's brain
as drugs," he said. "You wouldn't put a drug dealer in their room, or
an open container of alcohol. But when we have an open door policy
with the Internet and TV ... where we devalue women, society, or
authority, there's no respect infused into these kids."

Special Agent Lance Williams, the demand reduction coordinator with
the Drug Enforcement Administration, was the guest speaker at the
breakfast and talked about the fight against drugs.

"Not everyone knows the reason behind Red Ribbon Week," he said.

He told the story of a man named Enrique Camarena, nicknamed "Kiki,"
who was 37, married, and had three young sons.

The year was 1985 and Camarena was a special agent with the DEA,
assigned to Guadalajara, Mexico, to catch the country's biggest
cocaine and marijuana traffickers who ran a multi-billion dollar pipeline.

"He was working on an investigation, and close to bringing it to a
close," Williams said. "But the bad guys found him. He was leaving
his office to meet his wife for lunch when a car pulled up outside of
his office. He was blindfolded, kidnapped, and brought to a farmhouse."

Williams explained how Camarena was tortured, and because one of the
men involved was a doctor, Camarena was deliberately treated in
between beatings to prolong his life, only to be beaten again.

"The things that were done to him were very, very horrible," Williams said.

He explained that Camarena lived through the torture for two days
before he finally died.

"Thirty days later they found his body, and every bone was broken."

Williams said he was personally involved in the investigation into
Camarena's death, and the people who participated in his murder are
all in jail.

"Kiki died fighting drugs," he said. "And two elementary schools in
Calexico began wearing red ribbons in his memory. Then all over the
country students began wearing them. It meant a promise to never do drugs."

In 1988 President Reagan signed a proclamation declaring October
National Red Ribbon Week, and Williams travels to schools every
October to share Camarena's story and deliver a message to kids.

"There are consequences for everything you do," he said. "As a
federal agent, there's a certain behavior required of me. There's a
10-page Code of Conduct I have to fill out every year."

HE EXPRESSED to the high school students in the room that the
consequences for their negative behavior could be life altering, just
by hanging with the wrong crowd.

"I locked up a girl for 10 years who carried drugs for her boyfriend," he said.

Williams described the girl as an intelligent university student who
fell in love with a drug dealer. He said her boyfriend convinced her
to carry 10 kilos of cocaine for him, and she got caught with the
illegal drugs.

"As soon as she got arrested she thought her boyfriend would show up
and claim it ... but he was gone in the wind," Williams said.

He also talked about how drug testing for employment has become a
common procedure in the workforce, and aside from drug use, the
impact that alcohol use can have with seeking employment.

"It's almost impossible to get a job if you have a DUI on your
record," he said. "People are getting fed up. There's a war going on
- and no one is going to make excuses for a slacker."