SOUTH HART STUDENTS ARE D.A.R.E. GRADUATES

J.D. Bowers is a shining example of what the D.A.R.E. program at South Hart
Elementary hopes to achieve.

The fifth grader had some good tips for people who might be thinking about
trying drugs.

"Don't do inhalants," he said. "They damage your lungs. And alcohol kills
brain cells."

Bowers was one of 87 South Hart students who graduated from D.A.R.E. March
19. Hartwell Police Capts. Paul Agnew and Frankie Gray are the D.A.R.E.
officers for Hart County.

The nationwide D.A.R.E. program is a 10-week curriculum for fifth graders.
It began in Hart County in 1999.

An officer spends an hour each week with every fifth-grade class in the
county. The lesson include drugs, self-esteem, making the right choices,
and gangs. Students are also judged in D.A.R.E. essay-writing contest.

Hart County Sheriff Mike Cleveland spoke to the students during the March
19 ceremony.

"Our jail down there is full of people who have been arrested because of
drugs," Cleveland said. "Drugs don't discriminate. You have to choose now,
you can't choose later."

Capt. Gray said the D.A.R.E. program sticks with students as they get older.

"The first class we had is now in ninth grade," he said. "And I see kids
today that tell me D.A.R.E. made a difference in their lives. And I see it
in them."

Bowers admitted that peer pressure will get worse as advances into high
school, where he will all but certainly be exposed to drugs and alcohol. "I
know it's going to be hard, but I'm going to try," the 11-year-old said,
who is the son of Jan and Bill Bowers.

J.D.'s mother, Jan, said the D.A.R.E. program is awesome. She had another
son, now 14, who completed D.A.R.E.

"I think it's fantastic. I'm real proud of (J.D.)," she said while hugging him.