KIDS, COUNSELORS BACK RED RIBBON WEEK

Emily Kellar, 17, still remembers tying little red ribbons on things
as part of her elementary school's Red Ribbon Week activities.

The Central High School senior grew up with the annual Red Ribbon
celebration, started in 1988 to encourage children to adopt a
drug-free lifestyle.

"Most people know," 11-year-old Maddie Merriam, a fifth-grader at
Grandview Elementary School, said. "But if there are kids that don't
know what to do and things like that, Red Ribbon is there to teach
them."

Each fall, students nationwide decorate their schools and communities
with red ribbons supporting the latest Red Ribbon theme. This year's
theme, "Drug Free ... I have the power," was stamped on thousands of
red ribbons distributed to local school children for the
celebration.

Rapid City Police Lt. Doug Thrash said Red Ribbon sends kids a
positive message about a drug-free culture.

"Almost a generation of people have seen it and passed it on to the
next generation," said Thrash, who was impressed with the huge turnout
of kids and parents for the Oct. 23 Red Ribbon parade and luncheon.

"It was just like a whirlwind," he said. "It was rather
overwhelming."

Rapid City's first Red Ribbon celebration 16 years ago was a single
event - the release of 50 red balloons at the Rushmore Mall.

Red Ribbon has grown to involve more than 70 agencies, schools and
organizations that work together to make a community statement about
the importance of staying drug free, according to Pam Teaney-Thomas,
director of youth development for the Rapid City School District.

Is it working?

"Yes," she said emphatically.

The results of a survey of middle school and high school students in
Rapid City public schools, conducted in 2003 by the Institute for
Educational Leadership and Evaluation at the Chiesman Foundation For
Democracy, support Teaney-Thomas' assessment.

According to the annual survey, alcohol use among high school juniors
declined 15 percent between 2001 and 2003. Marijuana use fell 8.8
percent for high school students during the same time frame.

There appears to be a trend among teenagers that it isn't "cool" to
smoke, drink or do drugs, Thrash said.

"That does not mean it's not happening in some places," he said. "It
is, but the trend is it's not cool."

Whether it's the Red Ribbon celebration, D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse
Resistance Education), or other programs, something is working,
retired Pennington County Sheriff's deputy De Glasgow agreed. Glasgow
is now the assistant director of Lifeways, a drug and alcohol
prevention program funded by the school district, city and state. The
program places dependency counselors in the district's middle schools
and high schools.

"Some of the decline has to be what we're doing. Somehow, the message
is getting out there," Glasgow said.

Kellar carries Red Ribbon's message and other character-building
messages to elementary- and middle-school students as a member of
Spectrum, a student improv team at Rapid City Central.

Kellar and Spectrum members Jeff Schadow and Melissa Beadle, both 16,
said the Red Ribbon celebration does have an effect.

"The majority of kids understand the message of Red Ribbon," Beadle
said. She helped judge more than 5,000 posters entered in this year's
billboard contest.

"Anything you're taught when you're little, sticks with you," she
said.

Red Ribbon events also make the community aware of the problems
associated with drugs and alcohol, Schadow said.

One of the benefits of the Red Ribbon celebration is the power of
shared experiences, Grandview counselor Randy Christensen said. Those
experiences, such as Grandview's annual Red Ribbon play, or forming a
drug-free message for a National Guard aerial photo, create an
alliance between kids that will support good decisions in the future,
he said.

"None of us would do drugs," Grandview fifth-grader Tori Shoun, 10,
said, looking from Merriam to Cassidy Godrey, 11. "If some of my
friends started to do that, then I wouldn't hang out with them anymore
because I know that's not right."

Keeping a good head on your shoulders and picking your friends is
important when it comes to avoiding drugs and alcohol, according to
the high school students. And there's strength in being identified as
a member of Spectrum, they said.

With 75 percent to 80 percent of the people in correctional
institutions there because of drug- and alcohol-related crimes,
programs that teach kids how to resist drugs and alcohol and give them
facts are worth the time and effort, Glasgow said.

"If you consider what it costs to keep one person in the South Dakota
State Penitentiary and compare it with what we spend on events like
Red Ribbon Week, I don't think they compare," he said.

The challenges are out there for children, Christensen
said.

"But the more that we can give them the foundation as far as being
assertive with what they know can be harmful ... the more secure
they'll feel."