Pubdate: Mon, 25 Dec 2006 Source: Springfield News Sun (OH) Copyright: 2006 Cox Newspapers, Inc. Contact: http://www.springfieldnewssun.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3490 Author: Natalie Morales, Staff Writer Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/dare.htm (D.A.R.E.) DEPARTMENTS RECEIVE D.A.R.E. FUNDING State funding will keep local D.A.R.E. programs running strong through the school year. The Clark County Sheriff's Office and the Springfield Police Division collectively received almost $70,000 from the Ohio Attorney General's Office to support the program, which strives to educate students about drug abuse and resistance. The sheriff's office received $34,862 to pay for half the salaries of its two D.A.R.E. officers for the time they teach the program during the 2006-07 school year. The instructors, Deputies Brent Goff and Suzanne Waughtel, also teach about Internet safety, anger management and the "choking game," during which kids try to get a high by depriving themselves of oxygen. Springfield police received $34,790 - $2,130 of which carried over from unused grant money from last school year, Capt. David Czyzak said. Officers Natheon Ashcraft, Jimmy Cosby and Sandy Fent teach the city program. The carryover comes from any sick or vacation days taken by the D.A.R.E. officers during the school year, he said. The department must report these hours, during which the grant money could not have been used. The grant money also provides funding for books used in the city's fifth- and seventh-grade programs, Czyzak said.