|
Superintendents stand behind new drug books |
|
|
Wednesday, 27 January 2010 |
There is an unfortunate growing epidemic with prescription drug abuse among the youth in Saline County according to local authorities and other experts.
To help find a solution and keep parents become educated, all of the Saline County school district superintendents are joining the fight to help.
The drug books, put together by the Benton Police Department and Benton American Legion Baseball Coach Russell Goodwin, contain pictures of popular prescription drugs along with the street names of the drug, the side effects from excessive use and the actual prescription name. The Smith-Caldwell drug store in Benton helped with pictures of the drugs and Christina King, a pharmacy student at UAMS, designed some of the booklet.
The booklets were paid for with drug seizure money, Lt. Kevin Russell said.
On Wednesday, the Superintendents filed into the Benton police station along with Saline County Sheriff Bruce Pennington; Prosecuting Attorney Ken Casady; Bryant Police Chief Tony Coffman; Benton Mayor Rick Holland; Bryant Mayor Larry Mitchell; state Rep. Dawn Creekmore, D-Bauxite; Bauxite Police Chief Jimmy Hood; Haskell Police Chief Mike Holt; Steve Varady of the Arkansas State Police Department; state Rep. Barbara Nix, D-Benton and several staff of the Benton and Bryant school districts.
“This is a really good book,” Bryant Superintendent Richard Abernathy said. “Anytime you can educate the staff, students and parents/guardians about the dangers of prescription drug abuse, it is a great thing. I was also very impressed with all the local law enforcement agencies and the Saline County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office working together on this.”
Benton Police Chief Kirk Lane, who is leading the charge on distributing the books, told the crowd that they not only need to get the parents educated on prescription drug information and how to lock them up, he said they need to really believe in the fact that there is a growing problem among the youth. Pennington also repeated the sentiments of Lane and said once he heard about the idea, his department “jumped on board.” He also said there isn’t a better way “he believes” to give back to the community with drug seized money than to put informational drug books out to the community residents.
Coach Goodwin also spoke with a voice full of emotion.
“This is one of the greatest days I have seen,” he said. “God gave me a way to help the youth in Saline County and teach young boys how to become men. I want to challenge you, like I challenged Chief Lane, to help the youth however you can. We have a tremendous job to do and it takes all of us.”
Goodwin added, “I want to you to take this book and put it in every parents hands. Working with youth most of my life, I can tell you within 2 or 3 days if someone is on prescription drugs. We all need to be like that and get that point were we can all recognize the signs. We all have a responsibility to this community.”
Though the Glen Rose school district is technically not in the Saline County area, it sets on the border and Superintendent Nathan Gills wanted to be apart of the movement. He said it was great to see all the area superintendents meet up and together they will spread the message to parents.
All the superintendents said they plan to use any meeting with parents/guardians, whether it is a parent/teacher conference, an open house, or even sporting events or other extracurricular activities to get the books into the right hands. Each superintendent received 200 books to distribute; though more are available if needed.
“We’ve got some parent/teacher conference meetings coming up in the first part of February and we’ll really start there getting it to them,” Harmony Grove Superintendent Daniel Henley said. “I think this program and the way the drug books are put together; it is all such a good deal in helping educate everyone about the problem.”
Benton Superintendent Tony Prothro was not available, but sent his Curriculum Director Karla Neathery to pick up the books. Prothro was praised by Goodwin at the meeting, who said he has been a strong supporter of the cause.
“I wish I could have been there,” Prothro said. “But we are going to do whatever we can to get those books out to the public. I think parents, as well as even a lot of school staff, including me, can use more education with this problem. We need to help the youth and this is a great resource for everyone.”
For more information or to pick up a free copy of the drug booklets, contact the Benton Police Department at 776-5948 or your local school. The book is also available to hand out at neighborhood watch events and will be placed in the schools.
|
Razorbacks
