Good Morning Lowcountry
Dare we say it
The muscular guy behind the D.A.R.E. table at Starbucks sold GMLc two boxes of crayons and two pairs of silly plastic sunglasses with frogs on them for $33. We kept one of each for a child we know and donated the other two items back to D.A.R.E. to give to a child in the program.
The Post and Courier/File
While the D.A.R.E. program sends police officers to elementary and middle schools, other community-based programs provide speakers to high schools. In 2006, 'Stop the Violence End the Killings' at Burke High featured Demond McElveen, who told students about dropping out of high school, selling drugs, being incarcerated and now having a career as a contractor.
D.A.R.E., Drug Abuse Resistance Education, is a copyrighted national program that sends police officers in full uniform to schools once a week for 10 weeks to teach from a workbook on drug avoidance, drug abuse prevention, violence prevention and other topics.
D.A.R.E. is used in 5th and 8th grades in schools in unincorporated Charleston County. "We buy the workbooks, a T-shirt and medals for people who win the essay award, and we give out a certificate," said Sgt. Mike Ringley of the Charleston County Sheriff's Office, who supervises the Community Services Unit. "I think we've been teaching D.A.R.E. for 12, maybe 13 years. The merchandise has gotten very expensive."
About 800-900 schoolchildren go through the program each year, Ringley said.
"They enjoy it, from what I'm told," he said. "It's sort of like having a special class. ... The only schools that really resent having a law enforcement presence are the high schools. Troublemakers resent it."
D.A.R.E.'s annual fundraiser, a golf tournament at Stono Ferry Links, brought in about $6,000 for the program. Ringley said he's asked the Charleston County School District this year to chip in and help pay for his program.
North Charleston police are gearing up to train officers in D.A.R.E. programs, Ringley said, and to implement the program again in North Charleston schools.
D.A.R.E.'s effectiveness is hard to measure, Ringley said.
School officials and police officers around the country have questioned its effectiveness in preventing drug abuse, but the data doesn't exist to track the success or failure of students who have gone through the D.A.R.E. program.
Compete with your art form
Deadlines loom for festival stuff.
For example, entries in the Piccolo Fiction Open, a literary competition, must be postmarked no later than April 9. Word limit: 1,200. The theme is "Endings."
The top story wins $200; other winners receive $150 and $50. One or more stories will be chosen to appear in Dark Sky Magazine, an online literary mag (darkskymagazine.com).
For info on rules and where to send your writing, call the City of Charleston Office of Cultural Affairs at 724-3705.
Entries for the Piccolo Juried Art Exhibition must be in by 5 p.m. April 24. Dr. Mokhless Al-Hariri of the Georgetown Design Group in Washington, D.C., will judge the exhibit. The theme is "Vanishing Landscapes."
To request a copy of the prospectus, call the Coastal Conservation League at (843) 723-8035 or find it at piccolospoleto.com and coastalconservationleague.org.
Finally, film entries to the fifth annual Felder Film Festival at Piccolo Spoleto are due by May 4. Films can be 12 minutes, maximum.
First prize is $500. Second and third prizes are $200 and $100. Judges will select about 14 films to be shown at the Folly Beach event.
For more info, contact producer Chris Weatherhead at 588-9636 or ccfelder@aol.com; or Nick Smith at catcity@gmail.com.
If you want to intern or volunteer for Piccolo Spoleto, call 720-3819 or 958-6459.
GMLc
Call 937-5564. Write gmlc@postandcourier.com. Find the blog at gmlc.typepad.com.
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