BUDGET PROPOSAL ELIMINATES 2 SAFETY PROGRAMS FOR KIDS

Racine County Residents Hope To Save Officer Friendly, DARE

The Deputy Friendly and Drug Abuse Resistance Education programs would
end in Racine County, under a budget proposal set to go to the County
Board in a few weeks.

Residents are working to gather support to save the programs, which
provide health, safety and abuse prevention education to school-age
children. At the very least, supporters said, they would like to
continue the programs with county dollars another year while they
search for alternative ways to pay for them or to supplement the cost.

Sheriff Robert Carlson said Thursday that eliminating the programs
would allow him to redirect about $170,000 to maintain staffing levels
at the County Jail and on patrols.

Each staff position costs $85,000 in salary and benefits, he
said.

"We've gotten down to the point where the dollars we have to maintain
the department are such that we have to prioritize things on the basis
of things we must do versus things we want to do or like to do. We are
not going to have the dollars to staff Deputy Friendly or DARE,"
Carlson said.

"I cannot pare back jail operations any more than it is, and I will
not reduce area patrol beyond what it is today."

Carlson said he is committed to continue both programs through this
school year because several schools have planned for them, but there
would be no more after that.

The City of Racine and Kenosha and Walworth counties have ended
similar programs the past few years for the same reason - cost,
Carlson said.

Carlson said the Deputy Friendly officer, Tim Graves, and the DARE
officer, Steve Sikora, would be placed in other jobs in his department.

Jackie Strelow, president of the Waterford Area Chamber of Commerce,
said she learned about the proposal to cut both jobs at a recent
chamber meeting that Carlson attended.

"Nobody wants to see those programs go away," Strelow
said.

Two of her three children have been through the programs, she said,
and she sees how well the programs work.

Strelow said Deputy Friendly helps teach children about issues such as
danger from strangers and bicycle safety, and that the messages get
through to children because they're coming from a law enforcement
officer. She said DARE helps plant the seed that helps keep children
away from drugs and alcohol.

"These are proactive programs, and to take it away, we will have to be
reactive later," she said.

Strelow said many people are coming together to find ways to save the
programs.

"We have some ideas on what we might be able to do, and we've been
making phone calls looking for support from schools and parents," she
said.

Carlson said he is aware of the efforts to save the
programs.

"It doesn't make me happy to do this, but it's a double-bladed issue,"
Carlson said. "Taxpayers are saying they want their taxes reduced or
at least don't want to see them raised. County employees cost money.
To staff these programs with deputies is something we can't do with
our budget."