The Daily News

In honor of upcoming Red Ribbon Week, the Wilkin County Alcohol Tobacco and Other Drugs coalition has helped plan a variety of activities for all schools in the county. Red Ribbon Week will be held Oct. 27-Nov. 1.

"It's to help kids be aware of healthy life choices and take a pledge against drugs," said St. Mary's School Principal Linda Johnson, an ATOD member.

Each school may have different activities, but for the most part they'll follow the same agenda. Students will follow a different anti-drug theme each day of the week and dress accordingly, such as wearing camouflage to "join the fight against drugs." Local businesses can expect to receive red ribbons, and the committee is holding a poster or door decorating contest at the schools.

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Some schools will also host a kick-off to the week beginning Oct. 27.

"The nice thing is that it's Halloween week, and they get to have some fun (dressing up)," said Mary Donohue Stetz, principal of Rothsay School.

In order to expand outreach efforts, the coalition also plans on using social networking sites like MySpace to include the younger crowd in a more efficient way. During discussion, Regional ATOD Coordinator Lynn Halmrast said peer pressure is a major struggle for kids but can be used in a positive way.

"When you can tap into the power of peer-on-peer influence, it's tremendous," he said.

Halmrast, who was recently chosen as regional coordinator, talked to the group about engaging in a perception exercise. At a recent workshop, Halmrast and other audience members were quizzed on their drug use knowledge and used remote control devices to provide their response. Afterward, they were shown the facts.

"The perception becomes, 'everybody's doing it,'" he said. "We have a tendency as human beings to want to be like our peers."

When youth start to believe everyone else is doing drugs, then they feel like they're out of place by not doing it, he said.

"But what the research is telling us is that it's not the way it is," he said. "The majority of our young people are choosing not to use."

Negative media reports and the use of phrases such as "most of us" have contributed to creating the wrong impression, he said.

"The problem with perception is that perception is truth," he said.

Members will participate in the activity at a later date. They also voted to start an additional youth and technology committee that will create a new Web site featuring anti-drug information.

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