Pubdate: Fri, 02 Jan 2004
Source: Daily Review (PA)
Copyright: 2004 The Daily Review
Contact:  http://www.thedailyreview.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1015
Author: James Loewenstein
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/dare.htm (D.A.R.E.)

SEVERAL SCHOOL D.A.R.E. PROGRAMS ELIMINATED IN BRADFORD COUNTY

TOWANDA -- The D.A.R.E. program provided by the Bradford County Sheriff's 
Department has been eliminated, due to a cut in the 2004 Bradford County 
budget.

The sheriff's department had been providing the program to fifth- and 
sixth-graders in the Northeast Bradford, Canton and Troy school districts, 
Sheriff Steven Evans said.

The D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program is a very effective 
program that not only teaches students the dangers of drug and alcohol, but 
also teaches them ways to resist using those substances, Evans said.

The sheriff's department had provided two law enforcement officers to teach 
the D.A.R.E. program locally.

The D.A.R.E. program will be eliminated immediately because funding for the 
program was cut in the final 2004 Bradford County budget, Evans said.

The proposed 2004 Bradford County budget had originally eliminated funding 
for the sheriff's department to participate in the Bradford County Drug 
Task Force and the Bradford County D.U.I. Task Force, which are police 
teams that target drug crimes and intoxicated motorists.

Because the sheriff was upset that the police teams were not being funded, 
the budget was amended to shift $8,000 in funding from the D.A.R.E. program 
to the drug and D.U.I. task forces, county officials said.

The Bradford County commissioners adopted the final 2004 county budget on 
Wednesday.

Evans said he is satisfied that there is now enough funding for the drug 
and D.U.I. task forces. However, he said he had wanted to see funding 
continued for both the D.A.R.E. program and the police teams.

"We have a major methamphetamine epidemic in the county, and it seems 
ridiculous to me that at the time of the epidemic we (are) being forced to 
drop an effective anti-drug program (the D.A.R.E. program)," Evans said. 
"But if we are being forced to modify our programs, our priority needs to 
be in apprehending methamphetamine manufacturers."

County funds spent on the D.A.R.E. program and on the drug and D.U.I. task 
forces are completely reimbursed by grants from the federal and state 
governments, Evans said.

But Bradford County Fiscal Director Joan Sanderson said that there are 
other ways to continue the D.A.R.E. programs in the Northeast Bradford, 
Canton and Troy school districts besides using personnel from the sheriff's 
department.

For example, officers from municipal police departments could be trained to 
teach the D.A.R.E. program, and their police departments would be 
reimbursed by the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency for 
providing the D.A.R.E. program, she said.

"It's just a matter of getting them trained," Sanderson said.

In fact, there are already a number of other police officers in the county 
who are already trained to teach the D.A.R.E. program, she said.

Sanderson said the decision to discontinue the D.A.R.E. program was not 
just a question of a lack of available funding.

The decision also stemmed from the fact that the sheriff's department has a 
backlog of work to do, and therefore it needs to spend its time on other 
tasks, she said.

In particular, the sheriff's department has a huge backlog of warrants that 
need to be served on people who have not paid court fines and other 
court-related costs, or who did not show up for their family court and 
domestic violence hearings, county officials said.

And, Sanderson said, one of the employees used by the Bradford County 
Sheriff's Department to teach the D.A.R.E. program is Pete Quattrini, who 
was recently promoted to deputy warden at the Bradford County Correctional 
Facility.

"He has larger responsibilities to take care of," Sanderson said. "When a 
municipal police officer can be trained to (be a D.A.R.E. instructor), that 
would be a much more viable alternative."

The elimination of the D.A.R.E. program run by the county sheriff's 
department will not affect the D.A.R.E. programs in the Athens and Sayre 
school districts, which are taught by officers from the Sayre and Athens 
Borough police departments.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager