STUDENTS PLEDGE DRUG-FREE LIFE FOR RED RIBBON WEEK

THOMASTON - Red Ribbon Week is a time for gratitude for all the lives
that remain drug free, a time to pledge to live a safe and drug-free
life, and a time to remember those lost in the fight against drugs.

School social worker, Elizabeth Tanner helped organize Red Ribbon Week
at the Thomaston schools, to get all students involved and educated.
On Monday, the Black Rock School elementary students wore red clothes
and red ribbons reading "I've got better things to do than drugs,"
symbolizing their pledge to live a drug-free life. The ribbons, which
they wore all week, were signed by each student and will be collected
at the end of the week and sent to Washington, D.C. where all the
ribbons received nationally, will be used to create a large ribbon
which will be displayed at the White House in proclamation of a
drug-free life and a symbol of unity and concern for others.

On Wednesday, BRS students were invited to bring in their favorite stuffed
animal to school, to promote "Hugs, Not Drugs, Day." Each class dedicated
an art project to Red Ribbon Week: pre-kindergartners made paper feet with
the theme "Take a Stand on Drugs;" kindergarten students made hand prints
stating, "Hand in Hand Let's Take a Stand;" first graders designed Red
Ribbon Week banners to hang in the school; and second and third grade
students decorated red paper "bricks" and lined them up in the hallway of
the school symbolizing the building of a wall to block drugs out of their
lives.

At Thomaston Center School the students took a symbolic walk around
TCS on Monday afternoon to declare it a drug-free zone. At a ceremony
sixth graders read poems and essays, and the fourth and fifth graders
brought banners with anti-drug messages on them. Students at TCS also
wore ribbons and red clothing on Monday. On Tuesday, students created
pledges on pledge bricks that are displayed in the school as a wall to
"Block Drugs from Our Lives." Each morning, a few pledge bricks were
drawn from the wall, and those pledges were read aloud on the
announcements. Students were also given the opportunity to sign a
school-wide pledge on the bulletin board next to the front door.

The history of Red Ribbon Week began in 1985, when Drug Enforcement
Administration agent Enrique Camarena Salazar was killed by drug
traffickers in Mexico. Angered by his death and the damaging effects
of drugs on our culture, people of Camarena's hometown began wearing
red ribbons in his honor. The tradition spread, and in 1988 Congress
proclaimed the last full week in October as Red Ribbon Week.