RED RIBBON CAMPAIGN IN SOUTH END

CUMBERLAND - Local efforts in this year's Red Ribbon Week Campaign, a
nationally recognized initiative to promote the prevention of substance use
and abuse that primarily targets youth, are concentrated in South Cumberland.

The Allegany County Health Department Substance Abuse Prevention Program is
helping with the campaign along with the CARE Team. The South Cumberland
Business Association, John Humbird Elementary School, South Penn Elementary
School and Washington Middle School are among the groups participating in
the events.

Business association members will display We Support Red Ribbon Week
posters and wear red ribbons at their places of business. As the sponsor of
the annual Halloween Parade, the group decorated the judge's stand with a
red ribbon banner and allowed ribbons to be distributed to interested
participants and spectators.

"A comprehensive strategy is what it takes to make an initiative of this
kind successful, and we are grateful that the South Cumberland Business
Association willingly supports this campaign," said Chris Delaney of the
health department. "It says a lot about their commitment to the community's
well-being."

John Humbird Elementary School kicked off Red Ribbon Week with a
ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday. The week runs through Thursday. Detective
Sgt. Jim Pyles from C3I Narcotics; Jane Dawson, Allegany County Board of
Education; Delaney; and Brenda Hoffman, Mike Brailer and Jared Moffett,
CARE Team, were a part of the celebration.

The students will participate in a variety of activities conducted by
Eleanor Seiberling, guidance counselor. "We will have a Wear Red Day and a
red, white and blue Pride Day," said Seiberling. "Each day on the morning
announcements there will be facts about tobacco, alcohol or other drugs,
and a sing-along about being drug-free. The children look forward to
singing the song and remember it from previous years."

The fifth-graders received a special lesson on drugs and alcohol, then
designed posters that are displayed throughout the school.

The South Penn Elementary students will have red ribbons to wear throughout
the week as well as a red ribbon banner. Other activities include special
coloring books for students in kindergarten through second grade, and a
drug and alcohol lesson by the health department for fifth-graders with a
drug-fact word search. Washington Middle School's Red Ribbon Week campaign
is spearheaded by Liz Simpson and the Students Helping Other People. Each
morning the SHOP students will read a drug-prevention fact on the
announcements, and group members created skits with drug-free messages that
will be performed in the classrooms. Students will have an opportunity to
sign pledges to be drug-free, and will receive red ribbons for a nominal fee.

The health department provides a variety of free programs to support
drug-free lifestyles. For more information, call (301) 777-5680.

The red ribbon campaign originated when Federal Agent Enrique Camarena was
murdered by drug traffickers in 1985. The red ribbon became the symbol of
the nation's intolerance to an environment where alcohol and other drugs
erode the potential of youths. It shows support for healthy, drug-free
lifestyles.