IT'S RED RIBBON WEEK

School Program To Prevent Drugs, Alcohol, Violence

Monday marked the start of Galesburg District 205's annual Red Ribbon
Week, which is really more like a Red Ribbon Month.

Throughout the month DARE officer John Woolsey will be speaking to
fourth-grade classes about staying drug free. Woolsey, the Knox
County Master Gardeners and former DARE officer Ed Barragan all were
at Steele Elementary School Monday to launch the district's first
Red Ribbon Week.

During the week, fourth-grade students wear red ribbons with the
phrase "I promise to stay drug free" as a reminder to "be honest to
ourselves," said Steele Elementary School teacher Angela Brubaker,
who is teaching fourth grade for the first time. The goal of the
week is to prevent students from getting involved in drugs, alcohol
or violence.

In addition to wearing the red ribbons, students also plant tulip
bulbs that will blossom in the spring into red tulips and each
classroom reads a story about the ribbons.

Red Ribbon Week started in the 1980s when California police officer
Enrique Camarena was murdered in Mexico while investigating the drug
cartels, Barragan said.

"This alarmed a lot of people locally, they wanted to do something to
commemorate what this officer did to try and keep drugs from coming
into our country," he said. Before long, other communities outside
California started to use Red Ribbon Week as a symbol not to use
illegal drugs.

Barragan said Woolsey, who also was at Costa Catholic Academy Monday,
will visit other fourth-grade classes in the district throughout the
month. The events are aimed at fourth-graders because the DARE
program currently targets third- and fifth-graders.