DARE FARE LEAVES FAMILIES EDUCATED, ENTERTAINED

MARSHFIELD--Open to children of all ages and their parents, the first
annual DARE FARE was held Friday from 6-8 p.m. at the Marshfield High School.

DARE, or Drug Abuse Resistance Education, has been provided to fifth grade
students by volunteers from the Webster County Sheriff's Department and
city police departments in the county for several years.

But this was the first year for the FARE, which stands for Family Awareness
and Recreation Event, said Webster County Prosecuting Attorney Cynthia Black.

"I thought that it would be a good opportunity for parents and kids to come
together and both of them to be learning about it," said Black. "We, as
parents, really don't know enough, so any time we could educate both kids
and parents, then I think we're making progress."

At a table in the cafeteria, Daren the Lion, played by Clay Weidman, was on
hand to teach children about "Stranger Danger." DARE board members Tammy
Atteberry and Teresa Miner, as well as others from the sheriff's
department, talked with children and handed out pamphlets, coloring books,
and "junior deputy" badges.

Rogersville Police Chief and DARE board member, Leland McMasters, was there
to digitally fingerprint and photograph children using the Rogersville
Police Department's Kidprint child identification system, which stores the
information on a computer disc.

Children, third grade and under, could enter a coloring contest in the
hallway. The contest winners were Kyle Hutton, 6, and Maggie Hutton, 9,
both from Marshfield, who were there with their mother, Suzanne, and
sister, Leslie.

Those children in fourth through ninth grade could participate in the
Missouri Army National Guard "Team Building" program, led by Master
Sergeant John Lindstra in the gymnasium.

They faced various challenges at different stations in the gym. There was a
hula hoop in a PVC pipe frame that represented a porthole in the Titanic,
which half of the group of children had to pull others through in order to
get them into the "life boat."

There was also a wooden ball maze where the group had to tilt the maze to
guide a ball from one corner to the other without letting it fall through
the holes, explained DARE board member John Strobel. Other challenges
included getting a "bomb" into a crate using a platform held by several
ropes, putting out an Iraqi oil well fire using an explosive, without
touching the bucket which held the explosives or going within a circle
surrounding the fire, and building a pipeline through a path surrounded by
balls representing land mines.

Several adults from the DARE board took the challenges as well. "They
(MANG) have a program where they provide assistance to areas about drug
use, and he (Lindstra) came and spoke at one of our DARE board meetings,"
said Black. "He's also going to come to the DARE Camp." At about 6:45 p.m.,
three winning essays were read by fifth-graders, Kayla Baldwin, John Martin
Cunningham, and LaChelle Johns.

Afterwards, parents were invited to view an educational film presented by
Community Partnership of Southwest Missouri.

A chili supper and silent pie auction were available throughout the
evening, raising money to provide DARE in county schools and for the DARE
Camp, held in June each year.

"We're hoping to do it every year and make it an annual thing. It was kind
of tough this year because, this first year we did it, we didn't really
know how to get people (involved)," said Black.

"I'm just real happy that people came out to support it," she added.