RED RIBBON PRIDE

The message to resist drugs and alcohol came from police cars, hovering
helicopters and even garbage trucks.

As part of Red Ribbon Week, observed nationwide to educate students about
the dangers of substance abuse, many schools held assemblies and other
activities to warn students of the consequences of drugs, alcohol and
cigarettes.

''I want to go far," said Katie Bailey, an 11-year-old sixth grader at
Hawthorne School in Ontario. ''I want to be a veterinarian -- Drugs are
toxic to the body and will hold you back."

Hawthorne students hung banners throughout the campus, wrote anti-drug
cheers and listened to addresses from Ontario police officers.

''It's teaching them to make the right decisions," Principal Monica Ford
said.

Tonight, Haynes Elementary School in Ontario will hold its annual Red Ribbon
Week Hoedown, a carnival-like family event.

At Golden Springs Elementary School in Diamond Bar staff worked with the Los
Angeles County Sheriff's Department to arrange helicopter flybys and talks
with students.

The Fontana Police Department delivered 2,000 ribbons to Alder Middle School
which arrived in a truck painted with anti-drug messages.

The Pomona Civic Center Plaza was filled with more than 1,000 children from
neighboring grammar schools who took part in a massive rally. Scores of
children from Madison, Mendoza, Vejar and Roosevelt elementary schools
filled the plaza to listen to short messages from city leaders.

Students from Palomares Middle School and Diamond Point elementary in
Diamond Bar sang for students while Pomona High cheerleaders kept the
excitement going between speakers and presentations and a skit drawing
attention to the dangers of smoking put on by peer counselors from Ganesha
High.

''It's amazing how much it has grown," said Brenda Sutherland, a Pomona
Police Department community services officer who was involved in organizing
the event. This is the fourth time such an event was organized as a joint
effort by the police and Pomona Unified School District and with the
involvement of other community organizations, including the YWCA.

Karen Estrada, 11, a student at Vejar said, ''We're learning something -
don't use drugs." Karen's classmate Cleavette Stoch, 10, said the message
she got was that ''you never have to do drugs because it's bad." The bad can
be anything from death to developing diseases that lead to death, the girls
said.

Tim Carrithers, a 10-year-old student at Hawthorne, said he would never try
drugs because they ''make you lousy and you don't do your job."

However, he said he wished schools would do more hands-on projects and
activities rather than just passing out ribbons and having assemblies.

''That way more people could participate," he said. ''Everybody's just
talking."