SCHOOLS OBSERVE RED RIBBON WEEK

Red Ribbons Remind Students To Live Healthy

It's Red Ribbon week -- a week set aside every year to wear a red
ribbon and enforce the "Say no to drugs" message to school children.

However, most children, and many principals, don't know where this
observance got started. Hesston elementary students will learn today
during one of this week's many assemblies.

"We start planning for this in August," said Donna Schadler, school
counselor at Hesston Elementary School and one of three faculty in
charge of the week. "The one thing I hope they get from this his how
to live a healthy lifestyle -- eating right, getting enough sleep and
properly exercising to take care of your body."

Monday, Newton High School students tied ribbons around light posts
and trees downtown as a reminder this week is Red Ribbon Week. In
Hesston, there were balloon launches, marches and cheers. There is a
week of activities planned at schools in Harvey County.

Nationally, the observance began after the 1985 murder of Enrique
"Kiki" Camarena, a Drug Enforcement Agent assigned to a case in
Mexico. Camarena was close to uncovering the identities of key members
of a Mexican drug cartel when he was kidnapped, tortured and killed
before he was able to identify kingpins of the illegal drug business
in Mexico.

Camarena left his office Feb. 7, 1985, to meet his wife for lunch but
never arrived. His body was found one month later in a shallow grave
70 miles from Michoeacan, Mexico.

Angered by Camarena's death, a group of young people in his hometown
of Calexico, Calif., began wearing red ribbons to honor him. In 1988,
the National Federation of Parents for Drug Free Youth coordinated the
first National Red Ribbon Week.

Each year, more than 325,000 Kansans participate in Red Ribbon Week to
increase awareness with problems related to drug and alcohol use.