STUDENTS MARCH, SAY NO TO DRUGS AND VIOLENCE

ESCONDIDO ---- Amid a sea of red T-shirts, headbands and other items of
spirit, National Red Ribbon Week culminated Friday with 200 young people
marching on Escondido City Hall and hundreds more attending an all-school
assembly at Lincoln School.

The message of Red Ribbon Week: Stay away from alcohol, drugs and violence.

As the elementary, middle and high school students marched Friday, most of
them carried blue or yellow signs declaring "We elect to be drug free."

Walking with them were Myrna Camarena of Riverside and Bertha Tamayo of El
Centro, sisters of murdered undercover drug agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena.

Camarena, a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration investigator working
undercover in Guadalajara, Mexico, was kidnapped, tortured and murdered in
1985 by Mexican drug traffickers.

His brutal death sparked a campaign to reduce the demand for drugs and
encourage a healthy, violence-free lifestyle across the United States. The
highlight is Red Ribbon Week, celebrated each October ---- this year from
Oct. 23 - 31.

"A lot of the kids don't know the story and I relate it to them," Myrna
Camarena said during an interview after a brief ceremony at Grape Day Park
next to City Hall. "If I have saved one child, my mission has been
accomplished."

Another story, 13-year-old Lydia Franco's recovery from crystal
methamphetamine, also turned heads.

"I got busted by my parents," Lydia told the crowd at the park. "They asked
me why did I do it."

The Grant Middle School eighth-grader said she found out drugs "make you
look like a fool," and "you get liked for all the wrong reasons."

"I remember the day I wanted to kill myself, because I thought I was
nothing, nobody," Lydia said, urging the children to go to someone for help
when they need it.

Earlier in the day at Lincoln, representatives from the Miramar Marine
Corps Air Station spoke to the 1,120 student body about avoiding drugs,
alcohol and violence.

Toward the end of the half-hour assembly, a question-and-answer period
revealed that the children had more questions about being a Marine than
staying away from trouble.

Then a teacher asked Gunnery Sgt. Sam W. Price what he would do if someone
offered him drugs.

"That would be a bad choice for them to do," Price answered, saying that he
would turn them down.

After the assembly, the Marines visited classrooms.

Talking to second-graders, Gunnery Sgt. Audfrey Robertson talked about how
drugs changed the Memphis, Tenn., neighborhood she grew up in, making it
unsafe.

"I made a promise to myself to never use drugs," she said.

One student told Robertson about seeing a neighbor smoking in front of her
newborn baby.

Another child asked what to do if one of her friends starts smoking.
Robertson recommended that she either speak to that friend's parents or
teacher.

Asked if any Marines smoked, Robertson said some do but they find it more
difficult to stay in good physical shape.

She encouraged students to share the lessons of Red Ribbon Week at home and
in their neighborhoods.

"You never know, you might give someone some information they never had
before and it may change them," Robertson said.

As the day drew to a close, fifth-grader Edgar Vega, 10, said Red Ribbon
Week and Friday's assembly "reminded us of our dreams."

"And not let anyone tell you to do drugs," added classmate Marlen Ocampo, 10.

"And don't care what other people think about you," Edgar said.

He said someone would probably offer him drugs some day, because it's
happened to other people he knows.

"I don't think it will be hard to say no because the school district does a
good job of sticking that into our heads because of all the activities we
do, like Red Ribbon Week," Edgar said.