DO YOU DARE? BMS DARE PROGRAM ASKS COMMUNITY HELP NAMING NEW DRUG DOG

Students participating in the Brewton Middle School DARE (Drug Abuse
Resistance Education) program are calling on everyone in the
community to help them choose the name of the new Brewton Police
Department's drug-sniffing canine.

After the previous dog died of natural causes, Brewton Police Chief
Monte McGougin asked Brewton City Council members with help
purchasing a new drug dog. Chief McGougin was given the go-ahead to
purchase the new canine several sessions ago.

DARE was founded in 1983 in Los Angeles. On the official DARE Web
site, it says that the program is now being implemented in nearly 80
percent of the nation's school districts and in more than 54
countries around the world.

DARE is a police officer-led series of classroom lessons that teaches
children from kindergarten through 12th grade how to resist peer
pressure and live productive drug and violence-free lives.

According to officers, the male German Shepherd has been in Pensacola
going through rigorous training. He will officially begin duty in two
weeks after training is complete.

Lt. Feast Broughton, who is the DARE officer, has been teaching the
program at the middle school for 11 years. He, along with handler and
Officer Jason Yoder, will use the new dog during routine drug
searches in the city and within the school yards during random drug
searches Chief McGougin implemented this year. The dog will also be
taken to all of the classrooms participating in the DARE program so
that the kids will get to know the newest member of the police department.

According to Broughton, students in the BMS DARE program have been
working tirelessly and competing against each other with the hopes
that their chosen name for the dog will be picked by members of the community.

The six classes have come up with six different names. The kids in
each class are asking community members to help them name the new
drug dog. "The one that gets the most votes wins," Broughton said.

He added that the kids have been asked to "campaign hard" for their
dog's name to win. The following six names are the ones the kids have
chosen. Help the BMS DARE classes choose from the following:

* Max

* Smokey

* Buddy

* Chico

* Tracker

* Charlie

Everyone is asked to clip out a form that will run Jan. 8 to Jan. 15
and can return the form to The Standard, or go online at
www.brewtonstandard.com and choose the best name. The last day to
vote for the winning name will be Jan. 16 and the new name will be
announced in the paper on Jan. 18.