ORGANIZERS SAY RESPONSE TO LIFESTYLES EVENT IS GOOD

Organizers of the sixth annual Healthy Lifestyles Conference in Cape Girardeau, a symposium that will focus on efforts of rural communities to combat drugs, report significant community response.

The conference, titled "Networking in Rural America: Strategies to Reduce Substance Abuse Among High Risk Youth," will be held April 15-16 at Southeast Missouri State University.

The event, hosted by the university's health and leisure department, will include an anti-drug rally from 6:30-10:30 p.m. April 15.

Student Abbie Crites said community response to the program has been "really positive." She said many local agencies and civic groups have been "spreading the word" about the conference.

"We've got area coaches and athletic teams involved, the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, teachers and businesses all taking a real interest in this," Crites said. "We've been traveling to some of the towns in the Bootheel like Kennett and Hayti to distribute information, and we've gotten good responses from some agencies down there."

The anti-drug rally will include keynote speaker Ken Davis, who will present a motivational speech about substance abuse.

There also will be an anti-drug banner and poster contest. Registration forms for the contest are due by April 5, and banners will be displayed at the Show Me Center during the rally. Registration forms can be obtained from the department of health and leisure, 1 University Plaza, Cape Girardeau.

The rally is free and open to the public. The fee for the two-day conference is about $25.

Other speakers at the conference include Carla Wills-Brandon, an expert in the field of co-dependency, eating disorders, alcoholism and other addictions.

Carl Eller, a former football great with the Minnesota Vikings who played in four Super Bowls, will discuss "My Fifth Super Bowl," an account of his own experience with drug abuse.

Also, Lloyd Johnston will talk about ways to make drug-free schools and communities a reality, and Shirley Armstead, an officer with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, will discuss drugs and their effects.

Several other regional and local speakers also will participate in the conference, and the event will showcase exemplary regional, state and national anti-drug efforts.

Crites said people interested in attending the event have called from as far away as Macy, Neb., and Dallas, Texas.

"There's been a lot of really positive feedback," she said. "I think the topic, strategies to reduce substance abuse among high-risk youth, is the key.

"People are wanting to make a statement in support of zero tolerance, to get drugs out of the community. I think everybody's eyes have been opened."

Crites said organizers of the conference next week plan to take informational fliers to various businesses in and around Cape Girardeau to ask that employees join the anti-drugs effort.

"We're going to churches and talking to pastors to cover that end of it, and we're going into the mall to talk with folks," she said. "There's still lots to do."