EDUCATORS SHOW IMPORTANCE OF ERADICATING METH FROM AREA

Chances are good that if you've made it all the way back to this page
of the newspaper, you've read it pretty thoroughly.

If that's not the case, you need to turn back to Page 1, begin reading
Lebanon Daily Record reporter Matt Decker's story on how meth is
affecting our schools and don't stop reading until you're finished.

The people Matt talked to for his story -- among them Esther
Elementary Principal Kyle Walker, R-3 Assistant Superintendents Chris
Neale and Suzy Gauzy -- do a far better job of emphasizing the
importance of eradicating meth from our county than we can in this
space.

The good news is, as a whole, R-3 students aren't using the
drug.

But the bad news is that their parents, in some cases,
are.

The students, especially the youngest ones, are the ones who are hurt
the most.

Esther Elementary Principal Kyle Walker, whose school serves students
in pre-kindergarten, kindergarten and first grade, said it's not
uncommon to see children of meth users shuffled between caregivers.

"We'll have a parent come in and make arrangements for a child -- that
they're going to stay with grandma and grandpa while (the parent) goes
into rehab..." Walker said.

"In the elementary, one of the things we see sometimes are the effects
right after it's happened. It's not uncommon for us in the morning
after a drug bust or if there's one that afternoon, to see, once
again, grandma, grandpa or an aunt or somebody is sitting with a
child, and they've come to pick the kids up because the kids are going
to be staying with them until mom or dad gets out of jail."

Think about that the next time you're thinking your kids are about to
push you over the edge.

Educators say that the more students learn is one of the keys to
ridding our county of meth. In that spirit, a new 10-week program
sponsored by St. John's Hospital-Lebanon will be offered to students
and conducted by Al Nutter, the former Laclede County Sheriff's deputy
who ran the D.A.R.E. program for several years.

Another key, they say, is the establishment of a drug-treatment
facility in the county.

"It seems, out in the community, that's the disconnect," Neale said.
"We have a jail that has a program within it to help meth or any other
kind of addict recover, we have a private group that has started up a
stepping stone -- a halfway house -- for folks who are trying to get
between the jail and back to real life. So, the thing we don't have is
a treatment center, which would be a beautiful addition to help those
folks."

So read this week's story.

If affects us all, it's one reason we decided to report this series of
stories and, especially if you're a parent, it affects you more than
anyone.