RED RIBBON WEEK REINFORCES DRUG FIGHT IN SCHOOLS

All Schools Are Participating

Awash in a sea of red, schools across the nation and Decatur County
are participating in Red Ribbon Week.

The project is in honor of Kiki Camarena, a drug enforcement agent
who was kidnapped and murdered in 1985. The program is designed to
encourage students to make positive choices and avoid substance abuse.

"We want to show students they can have fun besides relying on drugs
and alcohol," said Rob Smith, principal of North elementary.

The schools form committees and develop a budget to implement the
program, and integrate the message into classroom lessons. The topics
also go hand-in-hand with the health curriculum and assignments.

"Students are influenced by older children, adults and television,"
Smith said, "and this is our chance to get with them and make a difference."

Almost all the students participate in the events and attend the
assemblies. Candy Skaggs, Red Ribbon week coordinator at South
elementary, said it's effective because the students have fun and
learn at the same time.

"The ideas are embedded in their memories as a positive experience,"
she said, "so hopefully it will stick with them."

Both supervisors agree that it's important to reach children at an
early age, because drugs like methamphetamine are becoming so common-place.

"Children grow up in homes where drugs are produced," Skaggs said.
"Students are abusing drugs at younger and younger ages."

But, guardians and educators are rising to the challenge and are
trying to show students the reality of what drugs mean.

"We're having an impact and I hope they take it through their entire
adult life," Smith said.

"The students look to us for guidance, and now they can say 'no',"