CLASSIC CAR SHOW AIMS TO HELP DARE FINANCIALLY

Organizers See Event As Way To Help Fight Drugs

Bob Greene always believed August in Port Huron was a little slow after a
July full of classic cars and sailboats.

So he's hoping the Aug. 12 classic car show he's organizing will become an
annual event.

"Our community needs something in August," said Greene, 44, of Clyde
Township. "Everything's over after the last cruise night."

Greene also hopes the event will help the community financially.

All proceeds from the Wheels on the Water classic car show will be donated
to the St. Clair County Sheriff Department's Drug Abuse Resistance
Education, or DARE, program.

The show will be at Vantage Point, the Acheson Ventures' development on
the south side of the Black River where it enters the St. Clair River.

Greene expects between 75 and 100 vehicles at the event, which also will
feature prizes, drawings, food and entertainment.

"We've (had) some pretty horrendous things happen with drug-related
crimes," Greene said. "(I want) to show kids you don't (have) to get
involved with drugs to have a good time."

Deputy Cyndy King, the sheriff department's DARE officer, said Greene
approached her last fall about fund raising for the program.

King does programs with fifth-grade children at township schools.

While the sheriff department pays her salary, they don't pay for things
such as the DARE pencils and T-shirts she hands out.

With 700 to 900 students a year, even the small things add up.

"It might allow me to expand drug talks to different grades, like a
one-time (public-relations) deal that I might not be able to do now," King
said. "If the high school was having some sort of get-together, and
they wanted to have a small part of that be drug prevention, then I might
be able to use the funds to expand in that direction."