TEAM SPIRIT WORKSHOPS

About 111 students and 21 counselors will be participating in this year's Team Spirit Leadership Training Conference at the Victorian Inn.

Beginning Tuesday and ending Friday, these students will be exposed to a wide range of speakers and workshops.

-- From 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, Cape Girardeau Police Chief Rick Hetzel and Missouri Division of Highway Safety Program Specialist Tempe Jones will give the opening addresses. Tuesday will also be the day participants get to know each other.

-- Workshops scheduled for Wednesday are: Teams Under Construction and Drugs and Alcohol: Its Effects and the Role of Family and Friends in Chemical Dependency. Students will also construct a 35-foot inflatable whale from scratch as a team-building exercise.

Also on Wednesday, the students will be present at a simulation of an accident involving a drunk driver. The simulation will include a response by Cape Girardeau emergency response personnel. That will be followed by a panel discussion with both a prosecuting attorney and a defense attorney.

-- Cape Girardeau Police Sgt. Carl Kinnison will present a workshop Thursday about the legal consequences of being convicted for DWI. Missouri Highway Patrol Sgt. Brent Davis will be speaking on "Drinking and Driving, The Fatal Choice." Representatives of Mothers Against Drunk Driving will give a workshop on victims' perspective of DWI.

Organizers of Team Spirit say DWI is the top killer of people between the ages of 16 and 24.