Leading The Fight

LEADERSHIP TRAINING BOLSTERS DRUG-FREE YOUTH ENVIRONMENT

DECATUR - Antonio Burton, 17, will be a senior at MacArthur High School and
said he accepts people for who they are.

"I don't have a problem saying I'm drug-free," he said. "I am what I am."

He joined more than a dozen Decatur teenagers in planning to host a
multi-county summit, combating substance abuse and sexually transmitted
diseases in the upcoming school year.

To learn how to become effective facilitators, they spent their week at the
Illinois Teen Institute prevention camp at Millikin University. Students
from around the state learned how to become leaders, accept differences,
withstand pressure and maintain focus, control and credibility in meetings.

They took on the responsibility of developing specific plans of bringing
prevention programs back to their communities. Graduating from the camp
Thursday, the Decatur group walked away with a plan to meet before school
starts.

But coordinating 14 schedules, let alone getting a volunteer organization
off the ground, isn't easy. Second jobs and extracurricular activities
couple with transportation to challenge the effort.

Four Decatur sisters - Gayle, Alisha, Joanne and Jasmine Maddox -
experienced the frustration when working with others to develop prevention
program Operation Snowball last year.

"It didn't escalate how we wanted it to," said Gayle, the oldest at 17.
Yet, their goal of reaching out to youth hasn't faded. "If we can prevent
it with the younger people and teach them it's OK to be drug-free, we'll
have a better impact."

Greg Sullivan, executive director of the Illinois Sheriffs' Association,
attended the graduation ceremony and said to use the energy from the week
to help law enforcement, especially with the battle against
methamphetamine. The drug, which can be injected, snorted, smoked or
ingested, is highly addictive and dangerously explosive, not to mention
damaging to the brain.

"Our jails are full of meth-heads, drug addicts," Sullivan said. "We've got
to change the culture, and we're counting on you to do that."

According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Illinois' meth
problem is two-fold. Mexican drug trafficking organizations use Chicago as
a hub of distribution, and makeshift labs throughout rural areas stretch
the resources of local agencies.

State Rep. Robert Pritchard, R-Sycamore, also highlighted the meth problem
and said: "We've got to do something together to turn this thing around,
but laws alone won't do it. It's what you do."

It's what parents do, too, said Michelle Hurt, mother of Ashlee Walker and
Tony Tyus Jr., who watched her children graduate Thursday.

"It only takes one moment for them to get off track," she said. Calling and
checking on where they are may seem annoying to them at the time, she
added, but lets them know the parent is involved.