HLMS CAPS RED RIBBON WEEK WITH PARADE THROUGH SCHOOL

The Statue of Liberty signifies freedom, but it can also stand for freedom
from drug use. Horn Lake Middle School's Red Ribbon Parade Friday offered at
least one eighth-grader a chance to show both her anti-drug stance and her
patriotism.

Marisa Longmire, 14, dressed as the Statue of Liberty for the early-morning
parade through the school. She wore a crown of pale green construction paper
and gown to match.

"I volunteered to be the Statue of Liberty," Marisa explained. "After all
that stuff happened in New York, that's all I ever think of.

"I asked to be (the Statue of Liberty) because it signifies our country."

As for the message of Red Ribbon Week Drug Awareness Week, which is observed
throughout the nation's schools to raise awareness of drug-use perils,
Marisa said the week's activities "reinforced stuff I already know."

That is music to the ears of Lynne Slager, sixth-grade counselor and
coordinator of the week's activities. Like most educators, Slager is glad to
hear that presented material is indeed being absorbed.

"The parade is the finale of Red Ribbon Week," explained the counselor at
the school of 1,335 sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students.

About 30 students constituted the parade. Six floats, children's wagons
decorated with anti-drug slogans by groups such as the Horn Lake Middle
School cheerleaders, the student office workers and Beta Club, were pulled
in a procession around the school.

The parade was led by 11-year-old Leanne Denio and Kerrie Read, 12, carrying
a banner announcing the parade; drummer Josh Mooney, 13, followed close
behind and kept up a steady cadence for the marchers.

Behind Marisa's Statue of Liberty, at the end of the procession, Catherine
Sookraj, 13, and Adriana Sanchez, 14, each carried an American flag. The
girls, from Trinidad and Mexico, respectively, said they were chosen to be
flag-bearers because Slager wanted to show that Americans also come from
foreign countries.

The Career Discovery class won the float competition, judged by Margie
Sharp, co-director of The Partnership for a Healthy Olive Branch and DeSoto
County.

"Red Ribbon Week was started after a law enforcement officer from Texas was
killed fighting drugs," Sharp said.

DEA agent Enrique Camarena was murdered in 1985 by the Mexican drug cartel
he was investigating. Members of the National Federation of Parents for
Drug Free Youth adopted the red ribbon as their anti-drug symbol and started
the annual observance.

Last week's activities at Horn Lake Middle School included a poster contest,
won by Audriana Tuneburg, an 11-year-old sixth-grader.

The parade's winning float was entered by Career Discovery: "My class' float
is the best," ragged Career Discovery teacher Susan McCulley prior to the
start of the half-hour parade that wound through every school wing, the gym
and through several classrooms.

Classroom doors were also decorated by the classes. inners were the doors to
classrooms occupied by teachers McCulley, Murdle Tate, Susan Dunn and
Felicia Cleaves.

Students celebrated "Respect Yourself" day Tuesday, dressing up in their
finest clothes for the schoolday.

On Wednesday, the Grim Reaper made his annual and much anticipated
appearance. Slager said the costumed figure, whose identity is never
revealed, is a very popular part of the week's activities. On that day,
students wore black to signify deaths caused by drugs, whether they be
illegal substances, alcohol or tobacco.

Besides being parade day, Friday was Red Day, when most of the students and
faculty wore red.

Slager said Horn Lake Middle School has been observing Red Ribbon Week since
1992. She said each year is guided by a different theme. This year's theme
was "Team Up Against Drugs."