STUDENTS CELEBRATE DARE

BOILING SPRINGS - "I don't do drugs, I don't do cigarettes," the
fifth-graders sang. "I don't do alcohol, because I'm too smart to start."

That's the theme song for a group of students who graduated from Drug Abuse
Resistance Education Thursday. Students from Boiling Springs, Elizabeth,
Springmore and Union elementary schools celebrated and confirmed that drugs
aren't for them.

"All of you kids will be successful in life if you are able to steer away
from drugs, to steer away from people who sell drugs," Boiling Springs
Elementary Principal June Lail said.

The ceremony took place in Dover Theater at Gardner-Webb University, where
children cheered for their favorite principals and DARE officer James
Brooks, a Cleveland County Sheriff's Office deputy. The Chick-fil-A cow
also took part, harassing speakers and eliciting applause.

Sandra Keeter made a special presentation to the DARE program, donating a
Ford Explorer from the Keeter Ford dealership.

"We really think that the DARE program in Cleveland County is the best,"
Mrs. Keeter said. "You guys are great."

But the most important part of the ceremony came when 467 fifth-graders
paraded across the stage to pick up their DARE graduation certificates.

Afterwards, essay winners read their writings on why DARE is important to them.

"Drugs like marijuana can make you really stupid," Kimberly Skelton, an
Elizabeth Elementary student, told the audience.

Boiling Springs Elementary student Halee Nye listed everything she learned
in the program.

"I'm glad we have DARE so that we have less of a chance of trying drugs,"
she said.