SRS KICKS OFF THIRD RED RIBBON CAMPAIGN

MOSS POINT -- By the end of school Friday, every child in a Jackson
County public school should have a red ribbon to proudly wear to show
their courage to say "no" to drugs.

Singing River Services, a mental health and drug-treatment facility
in Gautier, is participating in the national campaign for its third
year in a row to kick off Red Ribbon Week from Oct. 23-Oct. 31. The
facility will send representatives to every school in the county to
hand out red ribbons to students.

Singing River representatives stopped by the Moss Point Alternative
Learning Center at 9:30 a.m. Thursday morning, where principal
Toletha Cook said her students are gearing up for a week of emphasis
on the drug-free message.

"For kids who are on drugs, we can let them know the harmful effects,
and for the children who aren't on drugs, we have a drug prevention
program," Cook said.

The facility will also be sending out guest speakers to schools this
week. Nadine Wilson, a program coordinator and prevention specialist
at Singing River Services, will speak to students at 11 schools next
week, including nine elementary schools.

The majority of children who use drugs are 12-17 years old, but
children as young as nine and 10 are starting to use drugs, Wilson said.

"We attempt to reach students in grade school, not to confuse them,"
Wilson said, "but to let them know what to expect in their teen years."

Along with tobacco and alcohol, students are more frequently using
inhalants, "huffing" glue and abusing their own prescription
medications, and Wilson is noticing how it is affecting their ability
to concentrate.

"In the next 10 years, it's going to be bad, because our children
won't be able to learn," Wilson said. "It's not because they won't
want to; it's just that they won't be able to."

The National Family Partnership started the Red Ribbon Campaign in
1988, three years after drug traffickers in Mexico City murdered
36-year-old Kiki Camarena, an undercover agent with the Drug
Enforcement Administration.

The ribbons, which may seem trivial to adults, are an important way
for children to commit to a drug-free lifestyle, Singing River
Services Executive Director Sherman Blackwell said.

"These ribbons represent a concrete reinforcer that says, I want to
remain drug-free,'" Blackwell said.

Year-round, the Alternative Learning Center emphasizes a drug-free
lifestyle and has therapists who the students can talk to, but one of
the special activities for later this week is a play written and
performed by 10-15 students in Shirley Owens' English class.

"The program is mainly about drugs and how it affects the lives of
children at a young age," said student Darryl James.

Junvencia Middleton and LaSara Lett are both acting in a skit that
shows other things students can do to get a "natural high."

"There are other things you can do instead of doing more drugs, like
take a hot shower or hang out with your friends," Middleton said.

Almost as important, this week gives students at Moss Point's
alternative school an opportunity to send a positive message and to
change some perceptions outsiders might have about the school.

"Hopefully, this program gives ALC a good turnaround," James said.

"Even though we feel like, nationwide, we have a lot of wars far
away," Blackwell said, "we don't want to neglect the war here at home
- -- the war against drugs."