DARE TO RAISE MONEY FOR SCHOLARSHIP

LANCASTER -- Lancaster police are calling on local businesses and citizens
to pick up their golf clubs this summer to support the department's first
ever DARE scholarship fund-raiser.

The money will be awarded for the 2005-2006 school year, and while the
amount is yet to be determined, most likely it will be for $1,000.

It will be given to a graduating senior from Lancaster High School,
Fairfield Christian Academy or Fisher Catholic High School, said Brian St.
Clair, Lancaster police DARE officer.

"We hope that with attending college, (scholarship recipients) will return
what they've learned (from DARE) to the next generation," said St. Clair.
"And they'll be able to provide businesses with feedback to where their
donation went."

The student must attend Ohio University-Lancaster and the scholarship will
be awarded in May during the annual Police Memorial Day.

"The whole purpose is to keep their education local," St. Clair said.
"Criteria will include financial need and community and school involvement.
They must have a 3.0 GPA or higher and also write an application essay."

St. Clair teaches Drug Abuse Resistance Education, or DARE, to all
sixth-grade classes in Lancaster. Last April, the Ohio House of
Representatives proposed to cut the $3.5 million of state money provided to
the program. The legislation did not pass, but many departments in the
state cut their DARE programs in anticipation.

Lancaster was not one of them.

"There are a lot of people out there who think that DARE is gone," he said.
"We wanted to create awareness that we continue to educate kids to be drug
free." So, members of the Lancaster Police Department's community services
office came up with the idea for the scholarship and its first fund-raiser.

All proceeds raised in the event and through hole sponsorships will go to
fund the scholarship, St. Clair said. To sponsor a hole, businesses or
individuals must donate $200.

In about two weeks, the department already has raised nearly $3,000.

"When we reach $15,000, our scholarship will become endowed with OU-L and
we'll no longer have to raise the money for the scholarship," he said.
"It's our goal to get to this point within 10 to 15 years."