11 LOCAL FOURTH-GRADERS NAMED WINNERS IN RED RIBBON CONTEST

Many of the red ribbons from last week's campaign have been taken down, but
it's clear from their essays that some students haven't forgotten the
lesson about drugs.

Eleven area fourth-graders were selected as winners of the 2003 Red Ribbon
Essay Contest and honored at a luncheon Tuesday sponsored by Longview's
Partners in Prevention.

One by one, they took the stage and read their award-winning essays to the
crowd of parents and teachers at First Baptist Church.

Their message was the same, but each had his or her own way of expressing it.

Some said they are drug-free because they don't want to ruin their futures,
and some said they stayed away from drugs because they would ruin their
health. One girl said she is drug-free because she learned from her
mother's mistakes.

Smiling brightly and looking proudly across the room, she said her mother
was an alcoholic but has been sober for seven years.

Another student, Emily Long from the Trinity School of Texas, said she has
made the right choice about drugs.

Doing drugs is bad because it can separate you from your family, "cause you
to end up on the streets, in jail or even die," Emily said.

Lanna Cooper from Spring Hill said doing drugs is like "drowning in an
ocean with sharks."

You can quickly become addicted, she said.

Students from Longview, Pine Tree, Spring Hill, White Oak, Hallsville,
Gladewater and the Trinity School of Texas wrote essays last month during
Red Ribbon Week, a national movement to commit to healthy, drug-free
lifestyles.

The essays were judged by a panel of LeTourneau University students.

Emily was accompanied by her teacher, Melissa McCreary, and Lanna was
accompanied by Reba Jordon.

Other winners and their teachers were:

Jordan Palmer, Gladewater; Denise Arnold, teacher; Ben Jones, Hallsville;
Charlotte Newlin, teacher; Shaelyn Baas, Hudson PEP; Mary Brown, teacher;
Gorman Elizabeth Brown, Mozelle Johnston; Kami Hale, teacher; Hang Vu,
Pinewood Park; Tina Baker, teacher; Mariam Ceballos, South Ward; Eunice
Callejas, teacher; Taylor Jones, Valley View; Karen Johnson, teacher;
Morgan Walters, Pine Tree; Leigh Ann Decker, teacher; Hannah Kutch, White
Oak; Brenda Lawrence and Shelley Carrington, teachers.