COALITION COUNSELED

PLAISTOW - Several local police chiefs and juvenile probation officers
gathered this week to assist the recently formed Sanborn/Timberlane
Safe and Drug Free Coalition. Their goal: To come up with a list of
programs that keep local kids out of trouble and drug-free, and
determine what each community is lacking in the way of services.

Sitting around a table at The Sad Cafe in Plaistow, which is
frequented by both Timberlane and Sanborn students and serves as
coalition headquarters, law-enforcement officials agreed that more
"tailored" services for teens and their families would be helpful.
etermine what each community is lacking in the way of services.

"I personally would rather see funding for school resource officers in
our schools than money go toward a specific program like D.A.R.E.,"
Newton Police Chief Larry Streeter said. D.A.R.E. stands for Drug
Abuse Resistance Education. Street said: "An SRO (school resource
officer) is whatever you want it to be. You can take aspects of the
D.A.R.E. program and combine them with other positive learning
experiences and create something that really works well."

Streeter said that Newton police have no real contact with the Sanborn
Middle School, and that is something he would like to see change.

Atkinson Police Chief Phil Consentino said he has had a D.A.R.E.
officer in the Atkinson Academy elementary school for years, and just
having the officer there creates a good "presence" for the kids.

Kingston Police Chief Donald Briggs Jr. said this is the first year
that he did not have funding to provide a D.A.R.E program at the
Sanborn Middle School. However, he said, the presence of the
district's SRO at the high school has changed the school for the better.

"He does a lot of mediation at the high school, sometimes working out
a 'contract' with the kids regarding behavior. Frankly, the kids say
that they feel safer because he is there," Briggs said. "They know
they have an adult they can turn to if they need help or are in trouble."

The key item needed to keep these programs going and to start new
initiatives was not a surprise to anyone. The group agreed that "seed"
money to start parenting classes and fund SRO programs is what is
needed within the communities.

The good news was that by being a part of the coalition, money may be
available through grant funding.

In October, The Sad Cafe in Plaistow received a $48,648 grant from the
federal Department of Health and Human Services to improve the
infrastructure of the Cafe and the coalition. This prompted coalition
coordinator Andrea Bonner and Sad Cafe Vice Chairman Dick Gerrish to
recruit the Sanborn Regional School District to join forces. ogram and
combine them with other positive learning experiences and create
something that really works well."

"There is power in more people working together toward a common goal.
The idea is if we work together as a group, we can obtain more funding
for the programs these communities deserve," Bonner said. "The chiefs
from these towns have a good idea of what is working and what is
missing for these kids."

Bonner said a similar meeting, gathering church leaders from all eight
of the communities that make up the Sanborn, Timberlane and Hampstead
school districts, will be held on Tuesday.

Those communities include: Plaistow, Kingston, Fremont, Newton,
Danville, Hampstead, Atkinson and Sandown.