RED RIBBON TIES ONE ON AGAINST DRUGS

Eleventh-grader Kimberly Rizo helped dress up her school to encourage
fellow students to adopt a drug-free lifestyle.

She said it's the right message to spread.

Rizo is just one of several students at the Career Center who have
spent all week decorating their school for the contest among all
schools in the Ector County Independent School District.

The contest is to push awareness for "Red Ribbon Week," which starts
Monday. A winning school will be chosen among the elementary levels
and the secondary levels.

Winners of the contest will be announced at Friday's football game
between Permian and OHS.

Career Center students decorated the "A" Hall with the outcomes of
choosing drugs or choosing to be drug-free.

One wall depicts a jail and gravestones, which represent some of the
outcomes of choosing drugs. The other wall showed a playground, sunny
skies and a clear day, which is used to represent the "happier" life a
person can have without drugs.

Eleventh-graders Yeriza Rodriguez and Krystal Cijerina said their
class came up with the idea of showing these outcomes.

"I think it'll get a message to them because they'll see what will
happen," Rodriguez said. "They'll see a difference from the good side
and the bad side."

Vella Connally, Director of Permian Basin Regional Council on Alcohol
and Drug Abuse, provided statistics that 41 percent of Texas high
school students used marijuana in 2001.

For that same year, 48.6 percent of Texas high schoolers reported they
were drinking alcohol. Connally's information is from Partnership for
a Drug-Free America.

Adela Vasquez, ECISD public information officer, has worked with the
Red Ribbon campaign for several years.

"Every year we make an attempt to support our kids in helping them, in
any way to say no to drugs," Vasquez said. "The committee's desire is
to convey a drug-free message all year long and for students to be
willing to take a stand."

The Red Ribbon community organization is made up of representatives
from Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the Permian Basin Regional Council
on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, police agencies and school officials.

The Red Ribbon Week campaign is really a monthlong event, she said. It
kicked off Oct. 6, with a lunch and now daily activities this week,
beginning Monday.

"We have the districtwide events, but on two days (Tuesday and
Thursday) we let campuses be creative and do their own thing," Vasquez
said.

Red Ribbon Week, which began in 1985, is a national week where the
country stops to realize how tough the fight against drugs is and to
remember those who have fought against drugs.

Red Ribbon Week Activities

* Today: Churches are being encouraged to urge their congregations to
participate in events that discourage drug use.

* Monday: 'Wear Red' day to take a symbolic stance against drug use. Also a
10 a.m. red ribbon-cutting ceremony at the ECISD Administration office.

* Tuesday: Individual campus activities.

* Wednesday: Red Ribbon Friendship Marker between Midland and Odessa at 10
a.m. on Faudree Road. MISD and ECISD superintendents will speak.

* Thursday: Individual campus activities.

* Friday: Game exchange at the Odessa High vs. Permian High football game.
Student leaders will exchange ribbons. School decorating contest winners
announced.