STUDENTS GRADUATE FROM SPECIAL DARE PROGRAM

To the strains of "Pomp and Circumstance," more than 300 fifth-graders
filed into the Haine Middle School cafeteria on Tuesday to celebrate their
DARE graduation.

Sporting shirts that read "You're too cool to be a fool," the students were
recognized for their commitment and success in pledging to remain drug-,
alcohol- and violence-free.

The DARE program's primary goal is to teach you how to say 'no' to those
situations," said Sgt. Dave Kovach, of the Cranberry Township Police
Department.

"I hope each and every one of you takes that knowledge because as you move
on through your school years, you'll be faced with some difficult challenges."

Short for Drug Abuse Resistance Education, DARE has been taught at Haine
since it opened eight years ago.

Haine's program remains one of the largest and oldest programs in Butler
County, said Kovach.

The 10-week course is taught in fifth grade because the students are at a
very impressionable age and need to be pointed in the right direction, he
said. They will soon become teenagers and face increasingly difficult
decisions.

"We hope this program impacts them with the knowledge to make hard and fast
decisions with smoking and alcohol," he said.

To present graduation certificates to each candidate were Pennsylvania
State Police Lt. Pete Vogel; Butler County commissioner James Kennedy;
representatives from the offices of U.S. Rep. Melissa Hart, state Sen. Jane
Clare Orie and state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe; Steve Mannell, director of public
safety in Cranberry; assistant township manager Bettilou Bertoncello; and
Cranberry Police Lt. Jeffrey Schueler.

In addition to receiving gifts like Darren the DARE Lion paraphernalia,
zipper pulls and cups, a dozen students presented their winning essays on
what they learned.

"The DARE program helped me realize there are many ways to die from
smoking, drugs and alcohol," said Ashley Harris, of Cranberry Township.

Among the things she'll take with her, Ashley noted the effects of
cigarette smoke on the body and the dangers of lung cancer as well as how
effective Cranberry Township Police officers presented the information.

"Overall, I think DARE really helped me and will help me in the future,"
said Allison Santorbeck in her winning essay. "I hope it helps other people
as much as it helped me."

DARE leaders hope so, too.

"I just want you to remember some of the things we taught you," said
Cranberry Police Officer Rhonda Rearick, program coordinator.

"One day you're going to have to use those ways to say 'no.'"