MARION SCHOOL CELEBRATE RED RIBBON WEEK

MARION - The official theme for Red Ribbon Week 2004 is "Drug Free: I have
the power!", but students, teachers and administrators around the Marion
Unit 2 school district are providing their own messages about the dangers
of drug use. On Wednesday students at Lincoln Elementary "Socked it to
Drugs" by wearing crazy mismatched socks, the kids at Washington Elementary
were "Too Bright to Do Drugs" wearing the brightest colors they could and
students at the junior high were decked out in red.

"We really had a lot of interest and participation in Red Ribbon
Week," said Lincoln Elementary Principal Loren Taylor. "We even had
some parents get involved by making banners to hang in the hallways."

One of those banners, created by Ivannia Daniels, played to Lincoln's
multiculturalism. There are kids at Lincoln whose original language
isn't English and Daniels wanted them to know how to "Say No To
Drugs." So her banner repeated the phrase in six languages - Japanese,
Spanish, English, German, Vietnamese and Arabic.

Walking into Washington School was like walking into a pint-sized
version of Woodstock. Nearly all of the students were dressed in
bright neon colors or rainbows or wildly patterned pants and shirts.
Vebbie Troutman's kindergarten class running around the gym looked a
bit like a light show. The kids really got into it, said Troutman, and
there were even two girls who showed up with the same crazy outfit.

"I don't even think they planned it," said Troutman. "They just came
and looked at each other and said you have the same shirt."

At the bottom of all the fun and games, and matching outfits, is a
serious message, however. Red Ribbon Week was created to honor a
fallen United States Drug Enforcement Agency agent and to warn kids
against the dangers of the substances that he gave his life to help
combat.

"I definitely think they're getting that message because it's
something that we repeat as much as possible," said Taylor. "This
nationally-known week helps to support anti-drug efforts that we make
in our science classes and with our counselors."