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Students ready to paint town red |
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Friday, October 17 2008 |
By CHRIS MEYERS
Staff writer
In preparation for Red Ribbon Week, local students are getting ready to deck out the downtown Columbia City area with ribbons, among other activities planned at area schools.
For students at Columbia City High School, the week will mean a day full of decorating the courthouse square with red ribbons.
Nothing specific was mentioned, but in the past, students have hung red ribbons from the light poles that surround the square.
Madalyne Pattee of CCHS’s SADD chapter said Columbia City Mayor Jim Fleck has agreed to read a proclamation which will declare the week as Red Ribbon Week for Columbia City.
In addition to the events outside of school, students also have an in-school activity planned to get the message of the week out to students.
Snap-on red bracelets will be handed out to students which will make them eligible for a small prize.
Ashley Rudd of Whitko’s SADD chapter said students are also working on several activities.
She said they wanted to try activities different from ones of the past that involved dressing up in themed clothing for each day of the week.
Students from Churubusco High School’s chapter were unable to attend the meeting.
Red Ribbon Week began after the kidnapping, torture and brutal murder of Drug Enforcement Administration Agent Enrique Camarena in 1985, according to the Enrique S. Camarena Foundation and Red Ribbon Coalition.
Camarena had been working undercover in Guadalajara, Mexico for more than four years. His efforts led to a tip that resulted in the discovery of a multimillion dollar narcotics manufacturing operation in Chihuahua, Mexico.
As a result, local drug kingpins murdered key informants and kidnapped Camarena and his pilot, Captain Alfredo Zavala-Avelar.
The DEA’s investigation revealed that Camarena had been tortured extensively before he was murdered.
Audiotapes of the torture showed that medical doctors actually kept Camarena alive in order to continue the interrogation.
In Camarena’s home town, Calexico, Calif., the public outpouring of support turned in to a community response in which citizens donned red ribbons.
The following year the California State PTA adopted the Red Ribbon Campaign. Then, in 1988, Red Ribbon Week was recognized nationally with President Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy, serving as the honorary chairs.
E-mail staff writer Chris Meyers at
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Last Updated ( Monday, October 20 2008 )
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