ANTI-DRUG PROGRAM GENERATES SUPPORT AT GAUTIER MEETING

GAUTIER - A meeting Friday aimed at keeping kids away from drugs was deemed
a success by participants. The meeting marked the beginning of the
five-week Guiding Good Choices program. It is designed to teach parents and
children communication, bonding, family cooperation, anger management, and
guidelines for healthy behavior.

"Whether is it a success depends on how much involvement we can get from
the people who are here," said Dr. Daryls Alford, associate professor of
psychology at University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast. "If we get
that it will be a success."

The so-called Community Planning Coalition meeting was held at the Singing
River Services Mental Health office.

Joe Stallworth, SRS grant coordinator, said the coalition is a requirement
of a three-year $300,000 grant from the Mississippi Alliance for
Prevention, administered through the Mississippi Department of Mental Health.

Stallworth said the purpose of the coalition is to fill in gaps in the
community where services are needed to keep children off drugs. Guiding
Good Choices targets children ages 9 to 15, he said, because research shows
that the middle school years are when youngsters usually start drug and
alcohol use.

Alford, Singing River personnel, resident Mary McKinley, and Sally Davis
with Mississippi Regional Housing Authority, had several ideas: form a PTO
at Gautier Middle School, talk to parents involved in Dixie Youth leagues,
send fliers to parents about GGC, and make efforts to bring the GCC to
schools and public housing developments. They also suggested providing
incentives to parents who have problems with drugs to attend GGC.

"It's very uplifting. The coalition approach is so important," McKinley
said. "If parents can feel that they have the support of the community and
schools and people helping them in a nonjudgmental manner, then we all benefit."