VALPO MAN TELLS YOUTHS THE HEARTBREAKING STORY OF HIS DAUGHTER'S DRUG
USE, DEATH

LAPORTE -- At Kesling Middle School Thursday, Red Ribbon Week's
anti-drug message came through via the story of a father's loss of
his only child to heroin.

Mann Spitler of Valparaiso, who lost his 20-year-old daughter Manda
in March 2002, spoke to Kesling students as the highlight of the
school's anti-drugs week.

As Spitler wove a tapestry of tragedy, describing his daughter's
happy childhood through her devastating final hours, sixth- and
eighth-grade students listened in silent awe.

Spitler spoke warmly of Manda's early years, calling her "joyful."
Photos of Manda were projected on the screen so students could see
her grow up before their eyes.

But as her teen years began, her secret life -- a life her parents
never dreamed she would lead -- began with a few bad choices.

"No one single choice seemed dangerous at the time she made them,"
Spitler said. But they heralded a set of different behaviors,
language and values she used outside the home, he said.

After Manda graduated from Valparaiso High School in 1999, she
started college at Purdue North Central, but dropped out after her
first year, dating young men her parents wished she wouldn't.

The last boy she dated was the one who introduced her to heroin.

Spitler detailed the last hours of his daughter's life before he
found her in the bathtub of their home, submerged in water with a
needle floating next to her limp body.

Manda had injected herself with a lethal dose of heroin and had
drowned in the bathwater, he said. He went on to play a copy of the
911 tape he made as he frantically performed CPR on his daughter,
holding his head in his hands as he listened to the recording for the
umpteenth time, reliving the scene in his head.

"I tell this story because I want all of you to be safe," Spitler
told the students when he finished.

After the presentation, students said he made an impact.

"It was inspiring," said Sarah Ambers, 14. "It made you think more
carefully about kids our age."

"I think this will make kids question their choices," said Mackenzie
O'Brien, 14. "Those choices impact others, not just themselves."

Kesling has an active DARE club, which Emersonn Cooper and Haley
Hines, both 14, said added a great deal to the school's efforts to
keep kids drug free.

"Kids can talk (in the DARE club), Emersonn said. Haley added the
club inspires students, who go out and inspire other students.

Overall, hearing Spitler speak meant a great deal to students like
Kyle Hartson, 13.

"People who struggle (with drugs) are told 'It's bad.' But seeing it
helps more than just hearing it," he said.

To learn more about Mann and Manda Spitler, go to Web site mandasstory.com.