TALIHINA BOARD FIRES NOTED DARE OFFICER

TALIHINA (AP) -- The DARE officer of the year for Oklahoma was fired by the
Talihina Board of Trustees after she refused to turn over to the city money
raised to support the drug awareness program.

Karen England, the officer, said she turned the money over to DARE America.

Students picketed City Hall and some cried after hearing the board's
decision to dismiss England.

She taught the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program to nine eastern
Oklahoma school districts, where students called her "mean mama chicken"
for the way she stood up for them.

The Talihina board did not give a specific reason Tuesday night for the
firing. England was suspended for 30 days without pay Dec. 6 after refusing
to turn over money raised to support the DARE program.

England said she believed she would be cheating students from other school
districts if she turned the money over to Talihina. Instead, she has turned
the funds over to DARE America, she said.

In June, the Talihina Board of Trustees declined to provide matching funds
for the DARE program, said Jean Ed wards, a DARE supporter.

A federal grant supplies 75 percent of the money for the DARE program with
the other 25 percent provided by matching funds.

Students, parents and others raised the matching funds for the federal
grant by holding fund-raisers, including publishing a DARE cookbook, which
had approval from the national organization to use the DARE trademark logo.

In November, the Talihina board ordered England to turn the money over to
the city. She refused.

In a letter addressed to the Talihina Board of Trustees, Mark Stines, DARE
America marketing director, said the money England had raised had to be
maintained in a separate account.

He also said that no one community should have control of the funds since
students from three counties were involved in raising the money.

England provided DARE training for schools in LeFlore, Latimer and
Pushmataha counties. She was selected as the state DARE officer of the year
in 1999 by the Oklahoma DARE Officers Association board of directors.