D.A.R.E. SPAGHETTI DINNER

Greeley police officer David Galyardt knows better than anyone the rewards
of teaching kids how to stay away from drugs.

Galyardt has taught DARE to children at elementary schools for 14 years.
And as a community resource officer at Greeley West High School, he
frequently gets to check back in with those kids once they reach high
school to see if the lessons stuck.

Galyardt was serving food along with other DARE officers at the eighth
annual DARE spaghetti dinner Sunday night.

"I've taught kids DARE who wound up going to prison for drugs," Galyardt
said. "I've taught kids DARE who wound up winning scholarships, going to
college and succeeding. We give them all the information, but ultimately
it's their choice."

Despite the fact that the program doesn't work for every kid, Galyardt said
he'd hate to see kids growing up without the program.

"If you don't do anything, you know there are going to be kids who fail,"
he said.

Weld County residents turned out Sunday for a program they say they're
thankful for.

The annual dinner raises between $2,500 and $3,000 a year, which helps
support drug and violence resistance programs across the county, according
to Dennis Humphreys, the executive director of Weld County DARE Inc.

About 20 officers from the Greeley, Evans and Platteville police
departments and the Weld County Sheriff's Office served spaghetti, salad
and garlic bread to about 300 people at the Evans Community Center.

Wilee and Joe Veltman paid the $10 for dinner because, Joe said, the
education 7-year-old Wilee will get in DARE will be a big help in raising
Wilee right.

"They learn about it one way or another these days," Joe said. "So I'd
rather have him learn it from the right people."

Wilee will take DARE when he's in fifth grade. Joe said he's thankful that
the program will be there, that Wilee won't learn about drugs the way kids
did when he was young.

"You had to learn from the school of hard knocks," Joe said. "It's better
for them to learn from police officers than their friends."