DARE FANS HOPE PROGRAM IS SPARED

Tight City Budget Threatens Anti-Drug Officer Positions

As Port Huron makes plans to cut its DARE program at local schools
next year, supporters of the drug and alcohol resistance program have
come out in full force to try and save it.

The city is planning on cutting the DARE officer position, along with
the community service officer position, as it faces a budget crisis
brought on by the multi-million dollar sewer-separation project.

The city anticipates savings more than $730,000 in the next five years
with the elimination of the two positions.

City Mayor Brian Moeller said while he likes the DARE, or Drug Abuse
Resistance Education, program and the connections it forms between the
city and police department, he's not sure council will save it.

At a City Council meeting this month, several residents spoke out in
support of the program, which teaches fifth-grade students at local
elementary students how to avoid drugs and alcohol and how to make
good decisions.

Among them was St. Clair County District Court Judge Cynthia
Platzer.

"If you get good information about how destructive drugs are, they'll
say 'I've learned this and I know what (drugs) will do to me and I
won't do it,'" Platzer said. "If you don't give it to them in the DARE
program, where will they get it?"

However, some studies have shown DARE is ineffective.

One study by the U.S. Surgeon General's Office said "In brief, the six
long-term evaluations of the DARE elementary school curriculum that we
reviewed found no significant differences in illicit drug use between
students who received DARE ... and students who did not."

John Stuewer, president of the Port Huron Police Officers Association,
said for every study against the program, there are studies for it. He
said people shouldn't discount how the program helps students in bad
situations.

"There are lots of stories of children disclosing that their parents
are selling drugs or they are being abused at home to their DARE
officer," he said.

The association gathered a petition of more than 1,200 signatures that
ask the city to maintain current staffing levels at the police
department, which would include keeping the DARE officer position.

Stuewer said studies that say the program is ineffective doesn't take
into account the relationships built between students and officers.

Former Port Huron DARE officer Karen Brisby said she saw firsthand how
those relationships can change lives.

While she was the DARE officer between 2001 and 2004, she met a
student in her class at Woodrow Wilson Elementary School. She began
mentoring the girl, now 15, and her sister.

Eventually, Brisby said, it got to the point where the girls' mother
couldn't care for them anymore and they were put in foster care. She's
kept in touch with them over the years and in August became a foster
mother to one of the sisters.

"I've built up so many relationships," she said. "You become almost a
confidant and a friend. Where they wouldn't ordinarily go to the
police, they feel comfortable coming to me with issues and asking me
for my opinion and my help."

Joi Price, 15, of Port Huron went through the DARE program at
Roosevelt Elementary School in fifth grade. While she said she made up
her mind to not do drugs, the program has helped.

"She (Brisby) taught us so many techniques on how to say no," she
said. "As we get older, we run into this stuff in high school. I've
had to use the techniques, such as saying no, giving the cold shoulder
and giving reasons why."

Price still keeps in touch with Brisby, who goes to her church, and is
upset current students may not get to take part in the program.

"I do think it's very beneficial and can turn a lot of young students'
lives around," she said.