AREA MAN THANKFUL FOR LESSON HIS SON LEARNED FROM D.A.R.E.

HUMPHREY - Platte County Sheriff Deputy Tom Brandl shuffled through
the office, his nose buried in paperwork, oblivious to the tall,
rugged man standing at the counter, waiting to talk to him.

"Officer Brandl," the man said, "You're the man I wanted to
see."

Brandl gave him a startled look, nodded his head slowly and took him
aside. Slowly and deliberately, the man thanked the deputy for
teaching his son to say no to drugs.

Brandl travels to county schools as part of the D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse
Resistance Education) program, which is designed to give kids the
knowledge they need to stand up against drug and alcohol abuse. The
man said his son went through the class last year in Humphrey, and he
had a story to tell Brandl.

A week or so before that, the man's mother had died unexpectedly. She
lived out of state, so he herded his wife and children into the car,
and drove for hours to get to the funeral. When they arrived, it was
mayhem, with more grandchildren, cousins, brothers and sisters than
beds.

"My brother lives out in the country," he said. "My dad's got a
two-bedroom house. We split the kids up wherever they could stay."

His oldest son, who is 12, was sent off to stay at the boy's cousin's
house with some of the other children, while the man and his wife
stayed with his father. With all the hustle and bustle of the funeral,
the events of the weekend were a whirlwind. After staying about three
days, the family left for home immediately after the funeral.

On the way home, the family stopped at a convenience store near Kansas
City.

"We were sitting there talking about how good it was my brother had
given up the drugs. (My son) looked at me and said, 'Can you keep a
secret, Dad?'" the man recalled.

While his son was staying with his 13-year-old cousin, the cousin,
late at night, pulled out his stash of drugs. All the father knows is
what his son told him, which is that it was white, powdery rocks.

"I was pretty shocked," the man said. "I was just automatically
thinking pot. I mean, shoot, the kid's only 13."

He shook his head in disbelief.

"I said (to my son), 'What made you tell me?' He said, 'D.A.R.E.
That's what they told us to do in D.A.R.E. Tell an adult.' "

A few days later his son, sitting down to an afternoon snack at his
kitchen table, talked about the incident in a lighthearted,
matter-of-fact tone befitting a 12-year-old who has the spotlight on
him. He recalled that night at his cousin's house. It was around
midnight and he was trying to get to sleep.

"He took out a drawer, reached all the way in the back and pulled out
a baggie. Then, he got a CD case, and he started chipping up the rocks
with a razor," the boy said.

"He said ... 'Since you and your little brothers and sisters came down
I started doing more of this.'"

Attempts by the cousin to smoke the drug were unsuccessful, so he
snorted it instead.

"I was thinking, he's changed a lot since the last time I saw him."

The boy said he had no question as to whether or not to tell. He
wanted, he said, "to get him off it. I learned last year in D.A.R.E.
class that stuff can kill someone pretty quick. He'll die young
eventually. I think people are stupid for doing it. It ruins your
life. It ruins their brain. I'd like to know what goes through their
mind the first time when they're buying it.

"If you have enough retirement money, I bet you could buy a Corvette
or a Viper."

Still, the decision to talk about the incident was made somewhat
easier in the fact that it was a family member whom he rarely sees. If
it were his best friend, the boy said he might react
differently.

But, he said, it would likely put enough strain on their relationship
so that they couldn't be friends anymore.