Red
Ribbon
October 2013 A Special Section of The People-Sentinel
Heroes of our Community
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Meet the resource officers that keep drugs out of our schools and away from our Children
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Red Ribbon, more than a national campaign
Each year, schools across the nation celebrate Red Ribbon Week hoping to teach youngsters the dangers of drugs. This year, schools will celebrate the theme, “A Healthy Me is Drug Free.” The National Family Partnership organized the first nationwide Red Ribbon Campaign in 1988 and continutes to sponsor annual events. The campaign was created in response to the murder of DEA Agent Enrique Camarena. Camarena was tortured and killed in Mexico in 1985. In honor of Camarena’s me mo ry a nd his battle against illegal drugs, friends, family and neighbors began wearing red satin badges. The National Family Partnership organized the first Nationwide Red Ribbon Campaign. “Today, the Red Ribbon serves as a catalyst to mobilize communities to educate youth and encourage participation in drug prevention activities,” according to the NFP’s website. The campaign has reached millions of U.S. children and families. “The National Family Partnership (NFP) and its network of individuals and organizations continue to deliver Camarena’s message of hope to millions of people every year,through the National Red Ribbon Campaign,” the site states. Locally, there are no DEA agents regularly working in Barnwell County, but Susan C. Delk Managing Editor susan.delk@morris.com
Just say ‘NO’!!!
10645 Dunbarton Blvd Barnwell, SC 29812 (803) 259-2014
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there are law enforemcent officers as well as school resource officers trying to reach students and help them stay drug free. In this edition of our annual Red Ribbon tab, we introduce you to the men and women who fight everyday to keep drugs out of the hands of our children. Each school district employs, in conjunction with the Barnwell County Sheriff ’s Office, at least one resource officer. These officers also teach the DARE program during the school year to fifth graders.
Cook & Gantt - Barnwell Resource Officers Susan C. Delk Managing Editor susan.delk@morris.com
For Barnwell District 45 resource officers, keeping children away from drugs starts with parents being proactive and providing
consequences at home. Deputy Darlene Cook is the school resource officer at Barnwell Elementary and Guinyard-Butler Middle schools and she also teaches D.A.R.E. classes. Cook, who has taught the D.A.R.E. classes for five years, has seen changes in students’ knowledge of drugs. She said although there have been no drastic increases, the street knowledge students have in elementary school about drugs increases each year. “It used to be if you heard the word ‘drugs’ in fifth grade, it had to be Deputy Darlene Cook
“Peer pressure is a big thing when it comes to drug use.”
– Deputy Greg Gantt
Deputy Greg Gantt defined for you, now they define it for me,” Cook said. “They will often use the street names (of the drugs).” Cook encourages students to make good decisions about friends and the activities they seek. “With the drug use becoming more common, with the language becoming more common, they are much more at ease with all of it. It’s not so much that they don’t know that it’s wrong, but
there’s really no discussion about the right or wrong of it.” Deputy Greg Gantt, the resource officer at Barnwell Primary and Barnwell High schools, agrees. “Be careful who your friends are,” he said. “Make your own decisions.” “Society in general has become so impersonal. Parents are trying to be friends with their children instead of being parents,” Gantt said. Cook said for some, there is not much education outside of school about consequences. “There is just a mindset that is very casual about drugs. Unfortunately they just don’t understand the consequences that go along with that. And D.A.R.E. helps that.” “Unfortunately we don’t follow up in high school with that (D.A.R.E.),” Gantt said. “Peer pressure is a big thing when Continued, Page 4
By the numbers • In 2011, 8.7 percent of the population had used an illicit drug or abused medication in the past month. • Drug use is highest among people in their late teens and twenties. • Drinking by under aged persons has declined from 28.8 percent to 25.1 percent between 2002 and 2011. Fewer Americans are smoking! In 2011, an estimated 22 percent of Americans had smoked which is down from 26 percent in 2002.
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Barnwell Resource Officers
it comes to drug use,” he said. Cook said even parents who are teaching their children about drugs may not be going far enough. “They don’t teach their children about the types of places to stay away from. They don’t teach their children exactly how it’s (drugs) going to affect them and they don’t teach them that they can get addicted right away. They don’t teach in specifics, they teach in general. And far too many students turn to selling drugs to make quick, easy money. “We live in a society where working is not an honorable thing anymore,” said Cook. Cook offered parents the following advice: “Stop believing it can’t happen to your child.” And “know your child’s friends and know where they are.” “If you don’t know those things, then your children are extremely vulnerable.” “We need to be the parents to our children, not their friends,” Cook said. “You are not doing them any favors when you do that. You can be their friend when they are grown.” For the children, Cook said, “It’s all about making good decisions.” “If they (children) surround themselves with friends who are making good decisions that makes it easier,” she said. For both students and parents, Cook said, “open communication is key.”
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Drugs of choice
Sgt. Donald Danner - Blackville Resource Officer
What you put into it is what you get out. That’s how Sgt. Donald Danner described being a school resource officer. Danner, with the Barnwell County Sheriff’s Office, has been a resource officer since the mid1980s when he helped start the first program at Midland Valley High School in Aiken County. He came to the Blackville-Hilda School District around 2004. Presently, he is the DARE and SRO supervisor for Barnwell County. He’s been a police officer for 33 years. Danner has been teaching the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program since 1989. In Barnwell County, fifth grade students go through the program. Seventh graders go through a similar program focused on gangs called GREAT – Gang Resistance Education and Training. Danner, who has been involved with schools long enough to teach the children of students he taught years ago, said, “Our presence in the schools … and establishing a rapport with the kids helps us not only be vigilant … but also have a relationship with the kids,” He said it’s about building trust between
“Rather than putting kids in the (legal) system, we try to keep them out of the system.”
david purtell Staff Writer david.purtell@morris.com
– Sgt. Donald Danner on his goal as an SRO
Sgt. Donald Danner officers and students, so when students see something they know is wrong they’ll report it. “That’s when you know you’re being effective,” Danner said. The most important thing, he said, is simply the officers’ presence in schools – it’s a deterrent to crime
because students see police everyday. Drug use has declined in schools because students are being educated on the dangers and consequences of illegal drugs, Danner said. There are still instances where drugs are found in school, but it’s a rarity. Danner said SROs are there for the students. “Rather than putting kids in the (legal) system, we try to keep them out of the system,” he said. Normally, SROs don’t try to override principals, Danner said. Most disciplinary issues are handled at the administrative level, but school officials can bring in a SRO if they think it’s necessary. It depends on the nature of what a student has done. You’ve got to have a certain amount of personality to work with students, Danner said, you can’t come in wielding power like Continued, Page 6
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Sgt. Danner - Blackville Resource Officer a dictator or you will lose them. Of course, the biggest impact on a young person is their family life outside of school. “Home says everything,” Danner said, adding that things are different today then when he was growing up. There are a lot of single-parent homes and children end up raising themselves; they grow up quick, he said, you know you have a problem when children don’t care if you call their parents when they’re in trouble. Danner said most parents know him through his role outside of school in the ministry. They ask him to watch their children and call them if he sees anything wrong. Danner related his work in schools to the ministry. “You’re still dealing with people that you’re trying to Fifth graders at Macedonia Elementary School in Blackville perform during their D.A.R.E. steer in the right direction,” graduation ceremony in December 2012. Jonathan Vickery/Staff Writer he said. The best part for Danner is when former students come back to say “thanks” for what he did for them. “I’ve had instances that almost broke me down to tears,” he said. “I feel real proud now to look in the face of a family and feel that I had a positive input on that.”
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Andrew Fedrick - Williston Resource Officer Children are influenced by many things – good and bad – but school resource officer Andrew Fedrick seeks to be a positive role model for Williston District 29’s students. “Officers aren’t just around to lock people up, but to help them,” said Fedrick. The Barnwell native came to the school district three years ago after spending a decade as an officer with the Barnwell Police Department. “I like being around the kids and trying to help as many of them as I can,” said Fedrick, a father of a 14-year-old daughter and 20-year-old son. “I want to steer them in the right direction so the streets won’t influence them.” He said he does that by talking with students at Williston’s three schools about topics that will help them throughout life, including the importance of getting an education, keeping up their appearances, having the right attitude, and staying away from drugs and alcohol. While he doesn’t believe drug use is
jonathan Vickery Staff Writer jonathan.vickery@morris.com
“I like being around the kids and trying to help as many of them as I can.”
– Andrew Fedrick on why he became an SRO
Jonathan Vickery/Staff Writer
Deputy Andrew Fedrick leads a D.A.R.E. class in October 2013 at Kelly Edwards Elementary School.
a big problem among the young people he works with, Fedrick knows they see the negative effects of drugs and alcohol from family, friends and others in the community. “They are actually talking about it,” including in the D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program, he said about what students see outside of school. The 10-week program teaches fifth graders at Kelly Edwards Elementary School, who are at an impressionable age, how to deal with peer pressure and how to say no to drugs and alcohol. “It’s going good,” he said of D.A.R.E., which has been taught in all three Barnwell County public school districts since 1989. D.A.R.E. also includes topics like dealing with and reporting bullying and communiContinued, Page 8
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Williston Resource Officer cating effectively. “If they can communicate effectively, that would help them get across things they want to do and don’t want to do,” such as saying no to drugs and alcohol, Fedrick said. These topics “all work together,” he said, and are important to the students’ futures. “To me one is just as important as the others,” he said. “Those are some of the key things that can help you out when you get out of school.” Approximately 70 Kelly Edwards Elementary fifth graders are going through the program this year. They will graduate Friday, Dec. 13, at 1 p.m. during a special ceremony. It’s rewarding to Fedrick when DARE graduates come up to him still excited about what they learned and wishing they could go through it again. Fedrick said he’ll do all he can to help students, but encourages parents to be involved in the conversation as well. “Sit down with them and have a strong talk with them,” said Fedrick, who emphasizes the importance of staying positive.
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Deputy Andrew Fedrick
Drug use usually begins during teen years Most people use drugs for the first time when they are teenagers. There were just over three million new users (initiates) of illicit drugs in 2011, or about 8,400 new users per day. Half (51 percent) were under 18. More than half of new illicit drug users begin with marijuana. Next most common are prescription pain relievers, followed by inhalants (which is most common among younger teens).
Alcohol
Drinking by underage persons (ages 12–20) has declined. Current alcohol use by this age group declined from 28.8 to 25.1 percent between 2002 and 2011, while binge drinking declined from 19.3 to 15.8 percent and the rate of heavy drinking went from 6.2 to 4.4 percent. Binge and heavy drinking are more prevalent among men than among women. In 2011, 30.0 percent of men 12 and older and 13.9 percent of women reported binge drinking (five or more drinks on the same occasion) in the past month; and
FACT: “Half (51 percent) of all new drug users are under 18,” according to statistics. 9.1 percent of men and 2.6 percent of women reported heavy alcohol use (binge drinking on at least five separate days in the past month). Driving under the influence of alcohol has also declined slightly. In 2011, an estimated 28.6 million people, or 11.1 percent of persons aged 12 or older, had driven under the influence of alcohol at least once in the past year, down from 14.2 percent in 2002. Although this decline is encouraging, any driving under the influence remains a cause for concern.
Tobacco
Fewer Americans are smoking. In 2011, an estimated 56.8 million
Americans aged 12 or older, or 22 percent of the population, were current (past month) cigarette smokers. This reflects a continual but slow downward trend from 2002, when the rate was 26 percent. Teen smoking is declining more rapidly. The rate of past-month cigarette use among 12- to 17-year-olds went from 13 percent in 2002 to 7.8 percent in 2011. There continues to be a large “treatment gap” in this country. In 2011, an estimated 21.6 million Americans (8.4 percent) needed treatment for a problem related to drugs or alcohol, but only about 2.3 million people (less than 1 percent) received treatment at a specialty facility.
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The campaign is aimed at encouraging our adults to not be a “party” to underage drinking. Pledge to never supply alcohol or host drinking parties for someone else’s child. If you host, you could be charged criminally with fines up to $1,075 and up to 30 days in jail. You also can be sued by someone if the drinking you allow on your property leads to great bodily harm or damage. The Parents Who Host, Lose the Most campaign was created by Drug-Free Action Alliance and brought to South Carolina by the Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services. It is supported by the S.C. Underage Drinking Action Group.
Take the pledge Parent Pledge
As a parent concerned about the health and safety of my child, I pledge that I will not provide him/her – and especially someone else’s child – with alcohol, nor will I support underage drinking parties. Underage drinking can ruin a young life, and I want to be part of a caring community that says “We do not support underage drinking!”
__________________________________________ Parent Signature __________________________________________ County of Residence
Please return your signed pledge to: Pledge, DAODAS, PO Box 8268, Columbia, SC 29202
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