ORANGE BEACH, Alabama -- Enough is enough.
That's the drug-fighting, school-improving message Orange Beach Mayor Tony Kennon and about 250 others wrestled with throughout a nearly 3 hours "It's Not OK" town hall meeting Wednesday night.
"This is not hyperbole or over-dramatization. Times are scary," Kennon said. "Our kids are under attack like they have never been before and in ways some of us old folks could never have imagined what's out there. That's why it takes a community."
And the community responded to the mayor's call by filling the Orange Beach Community Center on a weeknight -- church leaders, school officials, parents, grandparents, students, business owners and police officers.
The mayor-led discussion -- with City Council participation -- centered on the city's push to resume random drug testing in schools and why that needs to happen. The Baldwin County Board of Education was forced to drop its drug-testing program a few years ago due to state-level education funding cuts and the recession.
In August, Kennon first broached the idea with the council to have random testing reinstated at Gulf Shores High School. The council agreed and the mayor and a few council members were tested themselves in a show of support. They all passed. Testing is estimated to cost between $75,000 to $80,000 per school.
School board President Angie Swiger spoke during the meeting of her willingness to revisit random drug testing in the next budget. She said the law states that testing can only be done on students who participate in extracurricular activities or those who drive to school, not the general student population.
"It's not something we wanted to get rid of or were happy about getting rid of, it was just a necessity," Swiger said. "I'm certainly not opposed to -- and I don't think anyone else would be -- to revisiting the drug testing policy, especially after the penny tax. When that's done, hopefully we'll have some funds to work with.
"I'd be happy to bring the drug testing policy back to the board. Since it's such an important issue to everyone here on the island."
Kennon said with or without the county, Orange Beach will move ahead and pursue solutions, hopefully with help from neighboring Gulf Shores and Foley.
The mayor's plan is to form a community task force.
"What I'd like to propose is that we put together an Accountability Council," he said. "It would have seats. The mayor would have a seat, the PTO president would have a seat, parents would have a seat, grandparents would have a seat. The business community would have a seat. The job is not to be a fundraiser and sell candy bars. It's not to be a cheerleader. It is to hold the school system accountable for how they spend their money, the policies that they have, how they deal with our kids, what their test scores are and demand that we see and achieve the goal of academic excellence, whatever it takes."
To begin the meeting the mayor rattled off statistic after statistic of how drug abuse is shattering young lives, he discussed the disconnect between students and parents and the need to wake up apathetic moms, dads or caregivers through first-strike expulsion methods - zero tolerance, and the responsibility of the community to fill young lives with hope.
"These are our schools, our community schools, not their schools," Kennon said of the school system. "They're stewards of our schools. It's time for us to take a stand and for this community to take them back. Our kids are using drugs, statistics and polls show, at younger ages all the time. In greater numbers. There's a rise in addictions at younger ages across the board.
"Community is the solution though. It's not just a parent problem. Drug just don't stay in school."
Before opening the mic to audience members, Kennon reinforced his message with firsthand accounts from resource officers that serve the beach city schools, which include Orange Beach Elementary, Gulf Shores Elementary, Gulf Shores Middle and Gulf Shores High.
Orange Beach Sgt. David McLain talked about the importance of drug testing in middle and high school and he said since the policy has stopped drug activity has increased.
"It's a serious problem," he said. McLain brought a small case full of drug paraphernalia that was confiscated from one Gulf Shores student. From baggies of marijuana to a jar filled with liquor that candy gummies were soaked in and then passed out or sold.
Orange Beach Sgt. Cliff Roberts said one 17-year-old was caught with almost a pound of marijuana on his way to school this year.
"What was he going to do with that? Where was he going with it? This is as real as it gets," Roberts said. "These are our kids who are being put through this. This kid was charged and he was convicted."
Roberts also said car burglaries are happening about every night. "According to the National Narcotics Officers' Associations' Coalition, 70 to 80 percent of all crimes relate back to drug sales. They're stealing stuff out of your car so they can get money to buy drugs.
"We're getting cars broken into in every neighborhood," he said. "They take the small things that cannot be traced so please lock your doors."
Roberts said there needs to be a 3-pronged approach to battle drug abuse -- an engaged community that will not tolerate it, treatment for those who can be saved and enforcement to get those who cannot be saved off the street.
Gulf Shores High School Principal Ernie Rosado talked to the audience after an off-the-cuff invite by Kennon. Rosado talked about chasing the drug users through surveillance and drug dogs. He said his eyes and ears are teachers and students.
"I get 98 percent of the information from teachers and students. But there's not enough of the students coming up because they are scared and that's where all of you need to be an avenue," he said.
The school drug-enforcement policy is a 2-strike system, Rosado explained. The first offense is a 5-day suspension and 8 weeks of attending a prevention program. If that program is skipped another 3 days is tacked onto the suspension. The second offense of having drugs or alcohol on campus is expulsion.
Parents and concerned citizens asked questions throughout the town hall meeting. While Rosado was speaking, ideas for tip lines or emails were discussed and the need for it to be pursued.
The open microphone was well-used with over a dozen people speaking, from church leaders who are working with the city through the "It's Not OK" initiative, to business owners who have jobs for high-schoolers but have hit dead-ends due to the drug-testing requirement, to parents who said they are leading by example and not acting like their children's buddies or turning a blind eye to alcohol or drug abuse, to Gulf Shores High School students who reiterated that parental involvement is key.
Laura McBride, a senior at Gulf Shores High School, said parents need to know their children, and their friends, especially older ones who have driver's licenses. "It's really, really all about the parents," said McBride, whose father, Alan McBride, is head pastor of Orange Beach United Methodist Church and is one of the organizers of the "It's Not OK" drug awareness campaign.
Gulf Shores High junior Taylor Lanford shared his eye-opening experience as a Peer Helper this week on a visit to the elementary school for Red Ribbon Week, an annual nationwide program that warns students of the dangers of alcohol and substance abuse. Lanford said after the club wrapped up its "Don't Get Caught Up with Drugs" drug-identification presentation, a first-grader "out of nowhere" made a comment about drugs.
"He said in a laughing manner that, 'Yeah the kid that sits behind me on the bus every day, they smoke weed; everyday they have pills.' This kid was in first grade. Seven years old, sweet as can be. … He shouldn't know what weed is, he hasn't hit double digits yet, OK."
That led into Lanford's worries about his little brother, a sixth-graders, who has autism and Aspergers syndrome.
"He's in sixth grade right now so next year he's going to be exposed to all of this, everything imaginable," Lanford said with a voice that began to crack with emotion. "I'm not scared of much but I can honestly say I'm scared because I can't do anything about it. I can't be an older brother for him. I can't be with him to protect him from who is going to expose him to all the drugs and alcohol in middle school. I can't be there for him."
"If you want a deadline to start this program," Lanford said pointing at the mayor. "It's the first day of school next year. I want it to happen and if you don't, I'm going to raise every bit of hell. I'm going to talk to every body of government of power that I can. I'm going to make things happen."
After nearly 2 hours of discussion, Lanford's message was received loud and clear and moved the mayor to walk over to Lanford and hug him as applause filling the community center.
"If that don't fire you up, you ain't got a heart," Kennon said.
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