Posted 2:20 am Friday, January 27, 2012
Anderson County Student Essay Winners To Receive Bicycles
By BETTY WATERS
Staff Writer
PALESTINE — Anderson County students in the D.A.R.E. program, an acronym for drug abuse resistance education, have a unique incentive to study hard: the possibility of winning a bicycle and helmet.
Many Anderson County residents donated more than 100 used bikes to be refurbished by county jail inmates and passed along to writers of the best essays in the D.A.R.E. program and also to needy children.
“DARE to Ride” is a new twist instituted locally by the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department in the national D.A.R.E program that teaches youngsters skills to avoid involvement in drugs, gangs and violence.
The sheriff’s department conducts the D.A.R.E. program in the fifth grade in all Anderson County school districts and a private Christian academy at Southside Baptist Church. The department provides an officer, Deputy Pat Douthit-Green, to teach D.A.R.E.
Staff Writer
PALESTINE — Anderson County students in the D.A.R.E. program, an acronym for drug abuse resistance education, have a unique incentive to study hard: the possibility of winning a bicycle and helmet.
Many Anderson County residents donated more than 100 used bikes to be refurbished by county jail inmates and passed along to writers of the best essays in the D.A.R.E. program and also to needy children.
“DARE to Ride” is a new twist instituted locally by the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department in the national D.A.R.E program that teaches youngsters skills to avoid involvement in drugs, gangs and violence.
The sheriff’s department conducts the D.A.R.E. program in the fifth grade in all Anderson County school districts and a private Christian academy at Southside Baptist Church. The department provides an officer, Deputy Pat Douthit-Green, to teach D.A.R.E.
D.A.R.E. is taught in many schools nationwide, but Anderson County is the only place that has incorporated DARE to Ride in the program, Sheriff Greg Taylor said.
D.A.R.E. fosters a good relationship between law enforcement and children and the Dare to Ride program has “worked out great; the kids have really been receptive to it,” Taylor said.
Taylor credits his mother-in-law, Jynell Vance, for the idea of expanding it to include DARE to Ride.
“She said the fire department in Pampa took in donated bicycles when she was a little girl, refurbished them and gave them to kids (and) it would be good if somebody around here could do something like that,” Taylor said.
Taylor and the sheriff’s department decided to incorporate the idea into the nonprofit D.A.R.E. program, call it “Dare To Ride” and let people donate bicycles through the sheriff’s office to be refurbished by inmates.
At the end of the school semester, “DARE to Ride” gives a bicycle to the first-place essay winner in the D.A.R.E. program. As part of the D.A.R.E. curriculum, students are required to write an essay about what they learned in D.A.R.E. and what it means to them.
The best essay is picked by teachers, the sheriff and his staff.
A helmet purchased with D.A.R.E. funds is also given to the bicycle winner.
DARE to Ride benefits are twofold. “It gives kids incentive to work hard and study and write a really good essay at the end of their D.A.R.E. program and they have a chance to win a bicycle. And inmates (who refurbish the bikes) are able to participate in something worthwhile for the community,” Taylor said.
Jail staff members select inmates allowed to work on the bikes. Jail Lt. T. J. Choate oversees the project and makes sure the inmates refurbish the bikes to pristine condition.
People were very generous in donating the bikes, Taylor said.
Sheriff deputies picked up the bikes from residents who called the sheriff’s office saying they had a bicycle they would like to donate instead of throwing it away. Often they were bikes that grown-ups don’t ride anymore or bikes their children don’t want after getting a new bike, Taylor said.
The deputies brought the donated bikes to a shop set up in a secure area inside the county jail, where trustees worked on the bikes to ready them to be given away.
The shop is full, so the sheriff’s department is not accepting bike donations currently.
So far, four bikes have been awarded to D.A.R.E. essay winners in Elkhart, Westwood, Neches and Slocum school districts.
This semester, a bike will be awarded to an essay winner at Story Elementary in Palestine and to students in Frankston and Cayuga school districts.
“We hope the incentive for giving out bicycles will make them work harder in D.A.R.E. to win something and (receive) a sense of accomplishment for doing well, plus we like the part about the inmates being able to participate in something good for the community,” Taylor said. “It’s a neat program and a good situation all around.”
“We may expand it (the bike giveaway) to needy kids, like a family that lost everything in a fire,” Taylor said. It also may be expanded to needy children next Christmas, he added.
Expenses incurred for Dare to Ride, such as tools and parts, are covered by donations to the D.A.R.E. program. Tucker Farris Body Shop donates its time to paint the refurbished bikes.
D.A.R.E. fosters a good relationship between law enforcement and children and the Dare to Ride program has “worked out great; the kids have really been receptive to it,” Taylor said.
Taylor credits his mother-in-law, Jynell Vance, for the idea of expanding it to include DARE to Ride.
“She said the fire department in Pampa took in donated bicycles when she was a little girl, refurbished them and gave them to kids (and) it would be good if somebody around here could do something like that,” Taylor said.
Taylor and the sheriff’s department decided to incorporate the idea into the nonprofit D.A.R.E. program, call it “Dare To Ride” and let people donate bicycles through the sheriff’s office to be refurbished by inmates.
At the end of the school semester, “DARE to Ride” gives a bicycle to the first-place essay winner in the D.A.R.E. program. As part of the D.A.R.E. curriculum, students are required to write an essay about what they learned in D.A.R.E. and what it means to them.
The best essay is picked by teachers, the sheriff and his staff.
A helmet purchased with D.A.R.E. funds is also given to the bicycle winner.
DARE to Ride benefits are twofold. “It gives kids incentive to work hard and study and write a really good essay at the end of their D.A.R.E. program and they have a chance to win a bicycle. And inmates (who refurbish the bikes) are able to participate in something worthwhile for the community,” Taylor said.
Jail staff members select inmates allowed to work on the bikes. Jail Lt. T. J. Choate oversees the project and makes sure the inmates refurbish the bikes to pristine condition.
People were very generous in donating the bikes, Taylor said.
Sheriff deputies picked up the bikes from residents who called the sheriff’s office saying they had a bicycle they would like to donate instead of throwing it away. Often they were bikes that grown-ups don’t ride anymore or bikes their children don’t want after getting a new bike, Taylor said.
The deputies brought the donated bikes to a shop set up in a secure area inside the county jail, where trustees worked on the bikes to ready them to be given away.
The shop is full, so the sheriff’s department is not accepting bike donations currently.
So far, four bikes have been awarded to D.A.R.E. essay winners in Elkhart, Westwood, Neches and Slocum school districts.
This semester, a bike will be awarded to an essay winner at Story Elementary in Palestine and to students in Frankston and Cayuga school districts.
“We hope the incentive for giving out bicycles will make them work harder in D.A.R.E. to win something and (receive) a sense of accomplishment for doing well, plus we like the part about the inmates being able to participate in something good for the community,” Taylor said. “It’s a neat program and a good situation all around.”
“We may expand it (the bike giveaway) to needy kids, like a family that lost everything in a fire,” Taylor said. It also may be expanded to needy children next Christmas, he added.
Expenses incurred for Dare to Ride, such as tools and parts, are covered by donations to the D.A.R.E. program. Tucker Farris Body Shop donates its time to paint the refurbished bikes.
