[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 8]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 10172-10174]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    MILL RUN ELEMENTARY DARE PROGRAM

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. FRANK R. WOLF

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 6, 2006

  Mr. WOLF. Mr. Speaker, it is an honor for me today to recognize the 
recent DARE graduates from Mill Run Elementary School in Centreville, 
VA. DARE--Drug Abuse Resistance Education--has a long history of 
providing children with the information and skills they need to live 
drug-and-violence-free lives and I was pleased to recently visit the 
fifth graders at Mill Run as they completed this program.
  I would like to recognize Mill Run Principal Paul Vickers and fifth 
grade teachers, Ms. Garofalo, Ms. Neely, Ms. Page, Ms. Sovereign, Ms. 
Williams, Ms. Wolff, and Mr. Wolslayer. Special acknowledgment also 
goes to DARE officer, Deputy Lynette Ridgley, who is specially trained 
to work with students, answer their questions, and establish a positive 
relationship between students, law enforcement, and the community. The 
DARE program, supported by dedicated school faculty, has helped to 
address the critical need to educate our youth on the consequences of 
involvement in drugs, gangs, and violence, and how to avoid risky 
behavior.
  Several students at Mill Run Elementary received special awards for 
poster and essay submissions. Poster winners include Krista Sanders-
Mason, Manik Dayal, William Kim, Ryan Orr, Rob Kramer, Renato Mazzei, 
Ellie Ferguson, and Brigitte Ganzer. Essay winners include Rachael 
Williams, Brandon Greer, Francesca Beller, T.J. Soroka, Nick Carroll, 
Emily Ready, and Colin Ceresa. I have inserted for the Record these 
students' essays because I feel it is important to hear from the 
students themselves about how much of an impact the DARE program has 
made.
  One student, T.J. Soroka, says it plain and simple, ``The information 
taught in the DARE program has given me the knowledge to make good 
decisions in my life.''

                            (By T.J. Soroka)

       When you go to school, you take many subjects, but this 
     year I took one program unlike any other. That was DARE which 
     stands for Drug Abuse Resistance Education. It's not taught 
     by any ordinary teacher, in fact, DARE is taught by a Deputy 
     Sheriff who works in Loudoun County. When we started DARE, I 
     thought it would only be about smoking and drugs. But we also 
     learned about inhalants, making good decisions, friendship 
     qualities, being confident, and much more. But I gained the 
     most knowledge in DARE while learning about tobacco and the 
     qualities of a good friend.
       Before you smoke a cigarette, think of all the bad things 
     you're doing, such as putting 200 poisons in your body. Also, 
     you aren't just hurting yourself, you're hurting the 
     environment and the people around you. If you're under 18, 
     it's against the law to smoke. I hope you don't smoke a 
     cigarette, now knowing the affects of it.
       Do you think your friends have good traits? Do they treat 
     you like a friend? True friends have these qualities. They 
     are loyal to you and you can trust them. Also, they have a 
     bright personality so they can cheer you up. Last, if your 
     friend asks you to smoke, you should have a second thought 
     about them being your friend, after making a bad decision.
       The information taught in the DARE program has given me 
     knowledge to make good decisions. DARE also teaches you how 
     to say no to drugs and other substances. Next, DARE has 
     taught me affects of drugs and everything else. DARE has gave 
     me the knowledge to make good decisions in my life.
                                  ____


                         (By Francesca Beller)

       What exactly is D.A.R.E.? D.A.R.E. means Drug Abuse 
     Resistance Education. It teaches kids to make smart decisions 
     and teaches them about drugs and alcohol. Our teacher was 
     Deputy Ridgley. She taught us several interesting facts about 
     tobacco, marijuana, peer pressure, and other things that may 
     or may not scare you.
       Tobacco, the killer of over 400,000 peoples a year. It is 
     illegal to anyone under the age of 18, but even though it is, 
     children still do it! Tobacco affects your body development, 
     so it really affects kids! There are also many diseases that 
     tobacco can cause, such as heart disease, lung cancer, and 
     mouth cancer. So, tobacco is very dangerous to people young 
     and old with its 200 known poisons.
       Inhalants, something that can cause sudden death is not 
     what anyone wants. Inhalants have become a big problem now. 
     Teens are using inhalants a lot. They use super glue, paint 
     thinner, and other things. Inhalants can suffocate you and 
     cause diarrhea. They also starve the body of oxygen and force 
     the heart to beat irregularly. Some chronic users may have 
     reduced muscle tone of strength. So if inhalants are so bad, 
     why do it?
       Advertisements, they trick people into buying bad products. 
     Some tobacco commercials or advertisements may have you 
     knocking on the wrong door. If tobacco turns your teeth 
     yellow, then why do people in the ads have such white teeth? 
     Beer ads do the same thing. They do not tell you the 
     consequences most of the time. All they care about is you 
     buying the product! Also, a tobacco company gave a ton of 
     money to a charity, then spent more money then what they gave 
     to charity telling people about it! Don't be fooled by 
     advertisements, it may cut your life short.
       I think D.A.R.E. has really made an impact on my life. Now 
     I know everything I need to know about things from drugs to 
     alcohol to peer pressure. I really think that everyone should 
     take D.A.R.E, because it will probably lead most people down 
     the right path for their lives. D.A.R.E. is very fun and is 
     just a great program!
                                  ____


                           (By Brandon Greer)

       ``Click, click.'' The teenager was just handcuffed for 
     smoking marijuana in a bathroom. I will never make this 
     decision because of D.A.R.E. D.A.R.E is a program that 
     teaches you about drugs, the D.A.R.E decision. making model, 
     advertising, friendship qualities. peer pressure. personal 
     pressure, ways to say no, and being confident. Our D.A.R.E 
     teacher

[[Page 10173]]

     was Deputy Ridgley. She was truly kind and comical. She told 
     our class interesting stories in relation to her experiences 
     about drugs.
       One main drug we talked about was tobacco. Tobacco is found 
     in cigarettes and in chewing tobacco. Tobacco is responsible 
     for more than 400,000 deaths in America each year. Tobacco 
     shoots your body right in the foot because it causes some 
     major health problems. One is you could suffer shortness of 
     breath and dizziness. It also hurts the people around you, 
     because approximately 3,000 nonsmokers die each year from 
     lung cancer. If you want to be beautiful, don't smoke. The 
     200 known poisons in the cigarette's smoke can affect your 
     appearance. One way smoking affects your appearance is it 
     dries your skin out and causes wrinkles. Smoking also causes 
     yellow teeth and gives you terrible breath. Yuck!
       Another major issue we spoke about was being confident. You 
     need to be confident when a friend asks you a question, such 
     as ``Do you want to smoke?'' Do not speak in a weak voice or 
     have poor posture while you tell your friend you are not 
     interested. Your friend will just keep nagging at you to 
     smoke because he knows that you are unsure. To show your 
     confidence, you must have excellent posture by standing up 
     straight with shoulders back and chin up. Look your friend 
     right in the eye and maintain eye contact. You then must 
     speak clearly and respectfully. Remember to stay calm and say 
     no thank you. If you are confident your friend will stop 
     asking you to smoke. Hopefully, your friend will ask you if 
     you want to do some other activity.
       I really loved D.A.R.E. I think that D.A.R.E will actually 
     help me in the future by knowing how to say no to drugs. I 
     believe that it is extremely important to be drug free. If 
     you take drugs you are basically throwing away your life 
     because you might become addicted and think you must have 
     drugs. I also think it is important that my friends and 
     family do not do drugs. If you are drug free you can enjoy 
     sports like, skiing, soccer, football, basketball, hockey, 
     and other activities. You will also live a longer and have a 
     better life if you don't do drugs. I have truthfully enjoyed 
     learning about drugs and other D.A.R.E topics. I will always 
     continue to be 100% drug free.
                                  ____


                        (By Rachael T. Williams)

       D.A.R.E. is something everybody can listen to, Drug Abuse 
     Resistance Education. D.A.R.E. helps kids understand the 
     cautions of drugs and alcohol from the start, and that 
     nothing is real on advertising. Those are only two of the 
     millions of things that D.A.R.E. teaches you!
       Alcohol isn't something that helps you grow or something to 
     play with. Alcohol is loss of self-control or even coma and 
     death! Yes, you can drink once you're over twenty-one, but 
     that doesn't give you the right to go party until four in the 
     morning! Alcohol is a very dangerous thing. It is something 
     you should never drink if you're under age, not even if 
     someone calls you chicken. Even if they try to act tougher 
     than you are, they're not. They're not stronger than you are, 
     or cooler, or smarter than you are. It may seem like they're 
     cooler but truly they're not.
       You may look into a magazine and flip a few pages and then 
     see an advertisement, and you will see people smoking 
     cigarettes and having a great time. Well guess what, that is 
     not reality. Reality is yellow teeth and sickness and your 
     lungs turning black and failing. Cigarettes or cigars aren't 
     a pool filled with fun. It causes breathing problems or heart 
     disease and even cancer in your lungs, mouth, throat, 
     bladder, and kidney! Smoking is just a big black hole of 
     emptiness! So, don't listen to advertisements.
       Peer pressure happens to everybody. It can happen on the 
     bus, at recess, or even walking home from school. Sometimes 
     people will be pressuring you about drugs or sometimes 
     alcohol. They will make it seem fun and make it look like the 
     answer to your prayers. Well, it's not. There are a lot of 
     ways to say no like using humor or standing up for yourself. 
     Those are just two ways to say no. D.A.R.E. will teach you 
     many other ways.
       D.A.R.E. is an awesome place to learn about drugs and how 
     they can hurt you. I love going to D.A.R.E. Before D.A.R.E., 
     I didn't even know half of the cautions of drugs and alcohol 
     and how risky it is to drink or smoke. I know now that one 
     day I'm going to be offered a cigarette or some alcohol, and 
     I know exactly what to say: ``NO!'' I'll walk away and never 
     trust a person like that again. Now I'll remember that no is 
     the way to go.
                                  ____


                           (By Colin Ceresa)

       In fifth grade we take a special class called D.A.R.E. 
     D.A.R.E. stands for Drug Abuse Resistance Education. My 
     D.A.R.E. teacher, Deputy Ridgley, teaches us the dangers of 
     drugs and alcohol, how to say no, and how to avoid dangerous 
     situations.
       Smoking can do horrible things to your body. Did you know 
     smoking can turn your lungs black? Smoking makes it hard to 
     breathe and makes you dizzy. It makes your breath smell, 
     turns your teeth yellow, dries your skin out and causes 
     wrinkles. There are 200 known poisons in cigarette smoke. 
     Smoking is the most common cause of lung cancer. I feel that 
     smoking is very wrong. My Pop-Pop started smoking during the 
     Viet Nam War and then smoked for 40 years. Luckily he quit a 
     few years ago and is doing fine.
       If you want to avoid all these bad things you need to be 
     able to say no!!! Saying no can help you avoid many dangerous 
     situations. You can say no in many ways. You could ignore the 
     person offering you drugs. You could give a reason or fact to 
     the person who is offering you drugs and tell them why they 
     are bad for you, or you could walk away from the person who 
     is offering you drugs. Saying no can change your life in so 
     many ways. Saying no could even save your life.
       I feel that all of the information that I learned in 
     D.A.R.E. will help me a lot in the future. I know how bad 
     alcohol, drugs and tobacco are for you. I also learned that 
     you need to be confident and not let your friends pressure 
     you into doing something that is illegal or will hurt you. 
     D.A.R.E. has helped show me the importance of just saying NO!
                                  ____


                           (By: Emily Ready)

       ``Good afternoon, guys. Today we're going to talk 
     about...'' Every single year, fifth graders in Loudon County 
     take a class called D.A.R.E. D.A.R.E. stands for Drug Abuse 
     Resistance Education. A deputy from Loudon County Sheriff's 
     office comes and teaches you. Some of my favorite things that 
     we learned about were tobacco, alcohol, and peer pressure.
       Coughing, yellow teeth, cancer? These are just some of the 
     things tobacco does to you. Cigarettes contain tobacco, and 
     smoking is the main cause of heart disease. More than 400,000 
     people die every year from smoking. It can also turn your 
     lungs from natural pink to sickening black. My thoughts on 
     tobacco are tobacco is a horrible thing, and if you use it, 
     you are ruining your life!
       Jail, comas, and possible death are only a few of the 
     things too much alcohol can get you. Alcohol is in beer, 
     wine, and liquor. It slows down your brain and your body. In 
     case you're wondering, most teenagers DON'T drink alcohol. I 
     think if people were more responsible with alcohol, it 
     wouldn't be a problem.
       Peer pressure is when other people, friends or not, try to 
     get you to do something you may or may not wish to do. Some 
     people can be mean about it, or some will be nice and it can 
     be something good for you. If it's bad, just say NO! I think 
     if it's mean or bad peer pressure, we don't need it! It can 
     hurt people's feelings and make them do something dangerous 
     or awful that can hurt them or other people.
       I really enjoyed the D.A.R.E. program this year. It showed 
     me just how dangerous smoking and underage drinking really 
     are. I believe it is important to stay drug-free because you 
     can destroy yourself, your family, and your future. So, I, 
     Emily Ready, promise to stay drug-free and stay a non-tobacco 
     user and a nonunderage drinker.
                                  ____


                           (By Nick Carroll)

       `` Lost another one to drugs because of over use of 
     alcohol,'' sighed Dr. Smith. That won't happen to me because 
     I took D.A.R.E class. D.A.R.E. stands for Drug Abuse 
     Resistance Education. During D.A.R.E. we learned about 
     alcohol, inhalants, marijuana, and tobacco. We learned about 
     more than just drugs. We learned how to say no and about the 
     D.A.R.E. decision making model. We also learned about how 
     dangerous inhalants can be and the tricks of advertisement.
       Inhalants can be used as a type of drug. It can be made 
     using household products concentrated in the certain place 
     (like in a paperbag). They are very dangerous! It can kill 
     you instantly even if you're doing it for the first time. 
     Inhalants can damage your brain and liver. You might suffer 
     from a loss of smell, depression, and can cause a heart 
     attack! It can also suffocate you. It will starve your body 
     of oxygen and force your heart to beat irregularly and more 
     rapidly. You could get sores in the mouth and nose. Chronic 
     users can have muscle wasting and reduced muscle tone and 
     strength. Inhalants can cause nausea and nosebleeds. 
     Inhalants are one of the things that kill many children each 
     year. Inhalants can cause most of these problems without you 
     knowing it until it's to late.
       Advertising is one of the ways drug companies get people to 
     buy their stuff. One of the ways they do it is to show famous 
     celebrities drinking beer or smoking a cigarette. They also 
     show happy people with beer, wine, or a cigarette. They put 
     advertisement almost everywhere you could look. They put them 
     on TV commercials, in magazines, billboards, and many other 
     places. They think that by putting them in a lot of places 
     they are getting more costumers and it works, people go for 
     the advertisements.
       I think D.A.R.E. was an exciting subject. We learned many 
     things from our instructor, Deputy Ridgley. She made it 
     enjoyable to learn about drugs and how to stay drug free. 
     Deputy Ridgley told us many stories, which made it exciting. 
     I think that it is important to stay drug free to keep from 
     getting sick or hurt from different drugs. I will stay drug 
     free to keep from getting sick or hurt by drugs!

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