Miami Township Administrator Jeff Wright, trustee Mary Makley Wolff, St. Andrew-St. Elizabeth Ann Seton School Principal Mark Wilburn, Sgt. Kevin Petrocelli, retired officers Jim Lunkenheimer and T.J. Spencer, D.A.R.E. Officer Skip Raasfeld, Milford Exempted Village School District Superintendent Nancy House, Miami Township Police Chief Sue Madsen and trustee Karl Schultz pose with a banner celebrating the township’s D.A.R.E. Program’s 25th anniversary. The department celebrated the milestone during the Aug. 16, 2016 trustee meeting.
By Kelly Cantwell
Editor

The Miami Township Police Department celebrated 25 years of bringing the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program into local schools on Aug. 16.

In 1991, when rubbing alcohol abuse was the most serious problem facing children, the Ohio Association of Chiefs of Police, the then Ohio Attorney General Lee Fisher and the Ohio Department of Education decided to bring D.A.R.E. into local schools, Miami Township Police Chief Sue Madsen told the Miami Township Trustees and meeting attendees.

When the program began on Aug. 19, 1991 the message was “just say no to drugs.” It is now “keeping it real.”

Madsen thanked the former police chiefs and former and current township trustees for bringing and keeping D.A.R.E. in the community.

“The new curriculum is based on research-based principals of prevention, effectiveness, science-based national health education standards and measurable objectives,” she said.

The Miami Township Police Department brings D.A.R.E. into the Milford Exempted Village School District and the St. Andrew-St. Elizabeth Ann Seton School. It has reached more than 126,000 students in 25 years.

Ed Humphrey, current Clermont County commissioner and former Miami Township trustee, started as a trustee in 1990, so he was there when the township began offering D.A.R.E. in 1991.

“It’s provided a real benefit to the schools, I think,” Humphrey said.

He brought a note from the Board of Commissioners.

“Congratulations on 25 years of continuous service to the children of Clermont County through your partnership with local schools addressing drugs, violence, bullying, internet safety and other high risk circumstances that today are often part of our students’ lives,” Humphrey read.

Also during the meeting, Madsen presented the Milford Superintendent, Nancy House, and the St. Andrew-St. Elizabeth Ann Seton School Principal, Mark Wilburn, with a 25th anniversary banner and certificates from the national D.A.R.E.