Community News
One Person Can Make A Difference
By Sue Steiner
Oct 28, 2007, 11:59

In honor of National Red Ribbon Week, October 22-26, our local schools took the opportunity to educate students on the dangers of drugs and how to avoid them. The students also learned how Red Ribbon Week came about and the fact that one person can make a difference.

The students and staff at West Bainbridge Elementary School wore red on Tuesday for the Sheriff's Deputies visit. Students kneeling are Katelyn Strickland and Atarius Shouman with Deputies Walton and Nix in SWAT gear. Standing are Deputy Moorhead with his K-9 partner Max, Deputies Trolinger, Willis, Ashley and Logue.

The students at BHS Westside PLC got to see K-9 Koti in action.

Some of the schools had special activities October 22-26. Hutto Middle School's theme for the week was “Look at Me…,I’m Drug Free”. Each day students and teachers showed their support for Red Ribbon Week by wearing red and pledged to be drug free.

At Bainbridge High School the CATS (Community Activists Taking a Stand) For Youth made ribbons for the doors of the classroom. They also made red ribbons for the band instruments for the football game on Friday night. The school SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions) broadcast announcements each morning to the student body about Red Ribbon Week.

Capt. Willis explains to Grace students how to avoid the dangers of drug

The Decatur County Sheriff's Office visited several of the schools during the week. West Bainbridge Elementary, Lillian E. Williams, Grace Christian Academy, Potter Street and Bainbridge High Westside PLC had visits from both the 2-legged and 4-legged deputies. These students got to see first hand what the Sheriff's K-9's, Max and Koti do to help the war on drugs.

The Red Ribbon Campaign is now the oldest and largest drug prevention program in the nation reaching millions of young people during Red Ribbon Week. The National Family Partnership, which coordinates Red Ribbon activities nationally, estimates that over 80 million Americans participate in Red Ribbon events.

8th graders Magan Glenn, Arleasha Rivers and Marchelle Moore admire the work of the 7th graders who designed shirts with Red Ribbon Week messages

National Red Ribbon Week began after the death of Kiki (an undercover name for DEA agent Enrique Camarena) who was murdered in Mexico City by drug traffickers. Enrique "Kiki" Camarena grew up in a dirt-floored house with hopes and dreams of making a difference.

Camarena worked his way through college, served in the Marines and became a police officer. When he decided to join the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, his mother tried to talk him out it. "I can't not do this," he told her. "I'm only one person, but I want to make a difference."
 
In honor of Camarena's memory and his battle against illegal drugs, friends and neighbors began to wear red badges of satin. Parents, sick of the destruction of alcohol and other drugs, began forming coalitions. Some of these new coalitions took Camarena as their model and embraced his belief that one person can make a difference. These coalitions also adopted the symbol of Camarena's memory, the red ribbon.