WINNING DARE ESSAY DISCUSSES DANGERS OF DRUGS

Paying attention in class really does pay off. Just ask 11-year old Neenah
Williams of Morristown, the county wide winner of the D.A.R.E. essay contest.

During this past school year, Neenah, a Manley Elementary School
fifth-grader, was one of the many county-wide students who took part in
D.A.R.E. (drug abuse resistance education) classes.

Taught by qualified members of the Morristown Police Department, Officers
Ricky Witt and Jacqueline Kyle, D.A.R.E. is a 17-week course designed to
teach children the consequences of drugs, alcohol, and violence. Upon
completion of the course each students writes an essay on what they have
learned and what D.A.R.E. means to them.

From each class a winner is chosen; from each school a winner is chosen;
and then from the combined schools, an overall county winner is chosen.

"Neenah seemed to grasp the message we were trying to get across," Witt
said. "I'm very proud of her and proud that she was one of my students."

Witt further added, "after reading an essay like Neenah's, you can't help
but feel like you have accomplished something and that you were really able
to reach out to the kids."

According to Neenah's mother, Rene Williams, the essay winner's first words
when she found out she was the county winner was, "Oh, cool."

"I was really happy when I found out I had won; I thought it was neat
because I did put a lot of work into it," Neenah said.

"If not for Officer Witt being such a good teacher I don't think I would
have learned as much as I did," she added.

Neenah's mother said that both she and Neenah's father, Calvin, are very
proud of her accomplishment.

"We are proud that Neenah obviously learned so much about the dangers of
drugs and violence and that she knows why and how to avoid them now and
later on in life," Williams said.

"As for Officer Witt," she continued, "I'm impressed that he can talk to
the children in such a way that they benefit from what he is teaching them.
I also think its great that he devotes so much of his time to teaching our
children to be safe."

Neenah's essay has been forwarded to the D.A.R.E. educator's office in
Nashville. If chosen winner on the state level, she and her parents will
attend the Tennessee D.A.R.E. Officer Association's annual meeting, where
she will read her essay in front of the group.

The state essay is slated to be chosen sometime in July.