Fifth-graders commit to D.A.R.E.
By Rob Treynor
Assistant Editor
For more than two decades, the Madison County Sheriff’s department has been dispatched to London Elementary School to educate fifth-graders on the dangers of drugs and violence.
On Tuesday, Dec. 4, the 24th class of London D.A.R.E. students graduated from the program.
Superintendent Thomas Ben was the first to speak to the crowd of students and parents gathered in London Elementary’s auditeria for the graduation ceremony.
Ben stressed the dangers of lesser-illicit drugs.
“Prescription pills and alcohol kill more teenagers than all other drugs combined,” he said. “I urge parents to talk to to your kids on a regular basis about the evils of drugs. Be active in your child’s life and love your children.”
Sheriff Jim Sabin spoke of the staying power of the D.A.R.E. program at London schools.
“Over the past 24 years, 45,000 students have completed this D.A.R.E. program,” Sabin said. “That’s more than the current population of Madison County.”
Sabin then spoke directly to the fifth-grade class before introducing D.A.R.E. officer Deputy Roberta Braithwaite. “I’m almost afraid to do this. But how good of a job did Deputy Braithwaite do with you guys this year?”
Sabin was answered with thunderous applause and joyous shouts of “good” from the students.
Braithwaite enjoyed her warm welcome, telling the audience, “I love coming to the school. I come here two times a week and it’s always a wonderful experience.”
Deputy Braithwaite introduced the seven ‘top guns.’ These seven were selected from reports written by fifth-graders on how to commit to staying drug-free.
The seven selected were Joshua Eckhoff, Ethan Hensel, Zadien Gattison, Domnic Findley, Abbey Muhleman, Tatum Greenwood, and Garrett Moore. All seven read their reports to the assembled audience.
Other awards and prizes were distributed before students began to line up back-stage for the commencement.
As each student’s name was called to receive their diploma, cheers and applause reminiscent of a Justin Bieber concert, ensued.
A good time was had by all.
Bring earplugs if you plan to attend the 25th commencement.
Mentoring is great and all but these kids are losing more and more respect for their elders/authority. Just as Reap What We Sow said, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. With an upbringing like a lot of these kids are getting, they honestly dont have a chance. They learn at a young age that law enforcement are the bad guys. This is coming from parents who have been in jail several times and are constantly looking out for the law because they have something to hide. I know that sometimes officers can abuse their power but respect is earned where respect is given. Look around our town. I read that a good indicator of a bad economic situation in a town is the number of pizza places, pay day lenders and rent to own shops. London is loaded with those type of businesses and infact is building another rent to own store. Why is the town is such bad shape? I blame the city government. I’ve tried to get involved but face it, if you arent a London native you cant do anything here if they dont like you. Also, back in the day when the state of Ohio made cities put in a certain number of metro housing units, all of the towns in the county took just the minimum…that is except for London, they said bring them all here figuring on more people to pay taxes, it really worked out well didnt it?
actually, I want them to succeed. Turn this town around. Right now London is a launch pad, not a destination. I have never in my life seen so many kids who don’t have much of a chance. I feel bad for them, I really do.
It is sad but true what you said moral oral…. bad parents breed bad children. LIfe the old sayings go, we reap what we sow and the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. It’s a vicious cycle and needs to be stopped. I believe if these lazy dead beat bum parents would get off their drug behinds and get a job and provide for their family, without government assistance, things could be different. My parents worked as do I and we have morals and actually know right from wrong. I think the DARE program is good but most of these kids enter the world without a chance because of their worthless parents. The program needs to follow them throughout their school career or at least be reinforced as the kids get older. The students tend to forget or ignore what they learned in DARE as they grow up and face peer pressure. We have most definitely let our youth down when it comes to drug and crime prevention.
moral oral.. now why would you post such a negative comment on something as positive as this..? you are exactly why some of these children believe they wont amount to anything! just because their parents might not be the greatest citzen doesn’t mean that these children can’t overcome all of that and become something! and if that’s how you feel then take the opportunity to do something, become a mentor or something like that!!
impossible, the kids around here have no chance of doing anything productive or according to the law. Look at their parents. You’d be surprised at how many kids in the schools are waiting for a parent to be released from one of the local prisons, three quarters or more of our schools are on free and reduced lunches. Take a drive down through London sometime and look at what is breeding then ask yourself why the kids are like they are. The police force may have been cut but the even before that the kids knew that the juvenile system around here gives them nothing more than a slap on the wrist and turns them loose.