Laguna Beach Councilman Campaigning to Make City DrugFree Government:
Steve Dicterow is setting up a teen hotline, asking colleagues to serve
as role models and businesses to post signs of support. Some call the
program unrealistic.

by LESLIE EARNEST, Special to The Times

LAGUNA BEACHSoon, this coastal community could be a "drugfree zone,"
a place where elected leaders sign pledges that they won't abuse drugs
or alcohol, and youngsters in need of direction simply call an "I Am
Bored And Have Nothing To Do" hotline.

That, at least, is the vision Laguna Beach Councilman Steve
Dicterow is sketching as he launches his new antidrug abuse
program, which is designed to cast elected leaders as role models
while providing new options for youngsters who might otherwise be
tempted by drugs and alcohol.

"I want every City Council member to sign a pledge saying they
make a promise not to abuse drugs or alcohol," said Dicterow, who
will present his proposal at the council meeting Tuesday night and ask
his colleagues to sign the statements at that time. "I'm not trying to
say to somebody, 'You can't have a drink of wine at night if that's
what you like, or prescription drugs.' We're talking about abuse."

In addition to signing the pledges, Dicterow will ask his colleagues
to formally declare Laguna Beach a drugfree zone and to sponsor a
ProYouth Drug Awareness Town Meeting he plans to hold at City
Hall on Oct. 13.

Dicterow, who describes himself as "an absolute teetotaler," also
wants local businesses to put signs in their windows saying they
support the city's antidrug abuse policy.

Councilwoman Kathleen Blackburn called Dicterow's plan "very
positive." Regarding signing the pledges, she said: "I think that's a
pretty easy thing to do because I don't think anybody on the City
Council abuses drugs and alcohol."

Other council members said they also expect to sign the pledge.

"He's taking on a major challenge with his initiative," Councilman
Wayne J. Baglin said of Dicterow. "I hope that we can make it
effective and not just a resolution that is hollow."

Dicterow, who will be running for reelection next year, said he
has spent the last nine months talking with people throughout the
community about how to tackle the problem of drug and alcohol
abuse and has so far received overwhelming support for his plan.
"It's one of those politically correct kind of things," he said. "How
can anybody say they're against it?"

Police and others in the community have said they don't believe the
problem of drug abuse is any worse, or better, here than it is
elsewhere. "It's an ongoing problem in all communities, in all school
districts, and we want to step forward and be proactive and do something
about it," said Susan Jacob, executive director of Brandy's Friends
Counseling Center, a local drug and alcohol abuse treatment
organization. Jacob said Brandy's Friends has agreed to install the
hotline in its office. Teens could staff the line on weekends, and
during the week, recorded messages could direct youngsters to various
activities around town, she said. Youngsters needing to talk with
someone during the week could leave a message and have their calls
returned. Jacob, who has been working with Dicterow on the program for
about six months, has compiled a list suggesting ways that others in the
community can help as well. The suggestions, along with a letter
describing the program, will be distributed throughout town before the
October town meeting.

"We're hoping that everybody in the community will send a representative
and come with a commitment," Jacob said. "Our community is a community
that may be able to pull this off." Not everyone believes Dicterow's
program will transform Laguna Beach into a zone of clean living. "That
boy's gone over the edge, hasn't he?" said Kelly Boyd, a former
councilman who owns the downtown Marine Room Tavern, upon learning of
Dicterow's idea. Boyd said he would be happy to place a sign supporting
the city's efforts in his tavern but he believe the program is
unrealistic. "He should be living in reality," Boyd said. "He can ask
whatever he wants to ask. He can say he'd love to make Laguna a
drugfree town, and I think everybody in the world would like to have
their towns drugfree. But being a reality? I don't think there is any
reality here." Chamber of Commerce Manager Jeane Day said she has no
idea yet how merchants will react to the suggestion that they post signs
in their windows supporting the program. "I don't know how the
businesses will feel," she said.

Dicterow said he could find no other cities in Orange County with
similar antidrug abuse programs, but he believes the idea could catch
on. "The first step is to see if we can make something work in Laguna,"
he said. "Then we go outside Laguna within Orange County." Historically,
leaders here have seemed happy to plunge into uncharted waters. A
previous City Council declared Laguna Beach a "nuclearfree zone,"
meaning that no nuclear weapons could be produced, launched,
maintained or stored within the city. The meeting will be at 6 p.m.
Tuesday in Council Chambers at City Hall at 505 Forest Ave. For
information: (714) 4970705 .

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