HOW 'ROCK' DIRECTOR IS PAID

Regarding Clark Kauffman's July 10 article, "Anti-Drug Program Financing
Questioned," it is sad to live in a state with insidious methamphetamine
use while public agencies waste valuable resources in-fighting.

I am also uncomfortable with how the Register portrayed Rock In Prevention
(RIP), a statewide nonprofit organization that uses music and mentors to
teach students to refuse alcohol, tobacco and other drugs. I serve on RIP's
board of directors.

The description of the executive director's compensation was misleading.
His salary in 2004 was $84,000 - well within the salary range for nonprofit
executives.

To reinforce its prevention message, each year RIP gives music CDs to
thousands of students to take home with family educational guides. The
board found that we could dramatically reduce our expenses by hiring
Mission Records to produce the CDs. Mission Records is owned by RIP's
executive director.

The Register reported that the executive director received $465,000 for the
manufacture of CDs over three years, but the newspaper failed to provide
the net number after expenses. Over that time, the director netted an
average annual profit for the music he wrote and produced of $35,650.

- -Eileen Gannon

Des Moines