Commissioners and DARE/PAL supporters seek compromise

Following a fervent show of popular support for the county’s two youth drug prevention programs during a rally Monday, Blaine County officials and program managers will meet tomorrow to try to put together a funding package that will allow the programs to continue. A public hearing on the matter is scheduled for the week of Aug. 9.

Next year’s funding for the DARE (Drug Awareness and Resistance Education) program became jeopardized after the county commissioners and sheriff disagreed on how to make up the loss of a federal grant that had funded most of the salaries for the two sheriff’s deputies running the program. Sheriff Walt Femling had asked the commissioners to budget the needed money from tax collections, while the commissioners insisted that the bulk of the salaries should come from drug "forfeiture" funds---money dispersed by the federal government collected from cash and property of local convicted drug dealers.

The commissioners have also stated that the related PAL (Police Activities League) program should also be largely funded by forfeiture money.

Salaries for the three deputies who run the programs is expected to cost about $140,000 next year, including benefits.

"I’m looking forward to getting the parties back together and working cooperatively on this," Commissioner Leonard Harlig said about tomorrow’s meeting. "We’ll see if we can narrow our differences and find some alternatives that we can all agree on."

The DARE program, under which two deputies provide drug education for elementary and middle school students, was started six years ago. The program serves between 400 and 500 local kids, said DARE officer Jim Cleveland. For the past three years, it has been primarily funded by a $49,000-per-year federal "seed" grant that expired June 1. During that period, the county has been providing $15,000 a year to pay half of one of the two DARE salaries.

Until last month, the PAL program was funded entirely from drug trafficking forfeiture funds, Femling said. He said the salary for the one PAL deputy, who was hired in May, is now funded mostly by forfeiture funds and partly by money raised during events by the DARE/PAL board of directors.

The current funding squabble appears to be based on the fact that no one established a source for additional money after the federal grants expired.

"I don’t think that the previous board (of commissioners) fully understood what would happen at the termination of the grants" Harlig said, "but they assumed there would be further grants to replace them."

Femling said he assumed he would have replacement money available from $425,000 his office has been owed by the federal government in forfeiture funds from drug busts during the 1980s. He said a check for $75,000 he was sent in November is all he has received of that money so far. He said about $50,000 of that money is being used to make up for the lost grant, but will be gone in four to five months.

Femling said there is a good chance he will receive more of that money during the next year, but the programs’ boosters say an assurance of county funding is needed if the programs are to continue.

Toward that end, a vocal crowd of about 150 kids and parents marched from McDonald’s restaurant at the north end of Hailey on Monday morning down Main Street to the old Blaine County Courthouse in a procession that stretched out nearly a block.

Carrying signs that read "Save DARE/PAL for the kids," "Keep DARE/PAL in our schools" and "Hugs not drugs—Support DARE/PAL," the group then made its way up the stairs of the courthouse, shouting "Show You Care, Help Save DARE." There they waited, chanting, until the three commissioners appeared.

Commission chairwoman Mary Ann Mix thanked the crowd for expressing its concern for the DARE/PAL programs.

"We appreciate hearing from you," she said, reading from a prepared statement. "And like you, our board supports this youth program."

She said the commissioners had agreed to county funding of one full-time position. In an interview, she said that is expected to cost $47,600 next year.

"We encourage the DARE/PAL board of directors, the school district, and the sheriff, through the use of forfeiture funds, to provide funding for supplemental services."

DARE/PAL supporter and rally organizer Elbie Bellon gave the commission a petition with 600 signatures and said that rally organizers had collected nearly 1,000 signatures all together.

The petition reads, "I am a taxpayer in Blaine County and I support continuing the DARE/PAL Drug Abuse Resistance/Police Activities League programs and continued funding for all the DARE/PAL employee positions. Please do not cut these vital youth programs out of the budget."

Before the march began, 13-year-old Liz Brown said in an interview, "DARE/PAL teaches you how to say no to drugs."

Her 13-year-old friend and classmate, Daniel Heiner, said, "DARE/PAL keeps kids active and away from drugs."

Mix said in an interview that the commission would continue to help fund the program, but that the county did not have the funds to finance the entire program.

"We want to give the public the opportunity to comment," Mix said. "A lot of people are concerned about how the taxpayers’ money is spent and deserve to express their opinions."

Bellon said he was not asking the commissioners to completely fund DARE/PAL, but to work with the sheriff’s department and school district to assure full funding for the programs.

That spirit of cooperation should find favor with commission chairman Harlig at tomorrow’s meeting. However, participants on both sides are likely to face a wide gulf in their opinions about how much money the county has available to spend on the programs.

Femling and DARE/PAL board members say the county has a $3.7 million fund surplus from last year. Mix, however, said in an interview that that figure is actually $3.2 million and that all but $206,000 has been allocated.

The programs’ effectiveness is also likely to be on the agenda, with scheduled appearances from school administrators in support of the programs. Mix, however, said she has received input from people involved indicating "a difference of opinion as to whether it’s effective or not."

Mix said the board would question Femling about how he has spent the forfeiture funds.

"We really scrutinize (the budget)," Mix said. "I think that’s what the taxpayers want us to do."