Plans coming together for 'Meth is Death Week'

Greene County will take on a somber appearance and take a straight-forward look at the local methamphetamine problem next month in a community awareness event dubbed as "Meth is Death."

Parking meters, road signs and street light posts in Bloomfield, Linton and Jasonville will be draped in symbolic black ribbons.

Students and adults will be asked to wear miniature black lapel ribbons to show unity and foster a community awareness that methamphetamine still has a staggering grip on the community -- affecting lives of young and old alike.

To help draw attention to the perils and perplexities of the methamphetamine crisis, a grassroots volunteer organization will once again stage an awareness week Jan. 27-Feb. 1.

Greene United Against Meth (GUAM) continues to firm up plans for what is being called "Meth is Death Awareness Week."

This is the second year for the community educational event.

At a meeting held Tuesday morning in Bloomfield, organizers talked about how they can make this week have a real impact on students, parents, users and their families and others throughout the county.

A special community meth vigil is planned for 7 p.m. on Jan. 28 at the Bloomfield First Baptist Church that will feature comments from area law enforcement representatives, clergy and recovering addict.

The Bloomfield Elementary School choral group, Joyful Noise, will also provide musical entertainment for the vigil.

GUAM will be taking a message to Greene County schools in an effort to heighten awareness of the problem and the way it touches the lives of the individuals and families of those manufacturing, using or distributing methamphetamine. The week's observance will also call attention to the effects meth plays on local enforcement agencies, the judicial system, social service agencies, as well as area treatment facilities.

Organizers contend raising the awareness of the problem county-wide will help provide solutions to curtail the local effects of this highly addictive illegal drug that is manufactured in clandestine make-shift labs or shipped in to the communities for organized crime elements.

To help tell the story to students in the Bloomfield, Linton-Stockton, Shakamak, White River Valley and Eastern Greene school districts, a young student from neighboring Daviess County will be called on to tell her story of how methamphetamine has affected her family.

Jessie Davis, a sophomore student at Washington Catholic High School, lost her brother who was a meth user when he committed suicide.

She will make convocation or classroom presentations in the five Greene County school districts on Jan. 28 and 29.

On Jan. 28, Davis will speak to junior and senior high school students at Shakamak at 9 a.m. and junior high students at Linton-Stockton at 11 a.m.

The next day she will speak to Bloomfield junior and senior high students in a 9 a.m. convocation.

Schedules for White River Valley and Eastern Greene schools are still being worked out with officials.

Speaking of Davis' talk, Christine Jarrett, who serves as program director for the newly formed Southwestern Indiana Methamphetamine Alliance -- a cooperative effort between Greene and Daviess counties to tackle the meth problem, says, "It's a touching and real story."

A student poster contest will again be staged in conjunction with the Meth Awareness Week, but with a new element.

The top two posters in each grade level will be reproduced and printed on a special calendar that will be distributed to every classroom in the county, according to Nancy Cummings, who serves as GUAM president.

The calendar will feature the artwork of the grand prize winning student on its cover and the top two selections of judge by grade level will appear on each of 12 calendar months starting in August 2008 and running until July 2009. Cummings explained that the top five posters each grade level at each of the five school districts will be submitted for judging by panel.

The best overall entries will be placed on the cover commemorative calendar and will be displayed on a billboard somewhere in the county.

First place winning students will also be presented with a $50 U.S. Savings Bond.

The winners will also be assembled for the prize presentation and a photograph will be taken that will appear in the Greene County Daily World.

The deadline to submit a poster entry for the calendar contest is Feb. 1

Cummings also plans to ask the Greene County Commissioners to sign a proclamation declaring Jan. 27-Feb. 1 "Meth is Death Week."