| Educators brainstorm how to curb drug abuse
Educators from 35 schools across the state gathered at a Keefe Tech conference yesterday to trade ideas on battling substance abuse among students. ``You'll always have drugs and alcohol in high school,'' said Bill Phillips, who oversees a statewide program based at Keefe Tech to help kids facing alcohol and drug addiction. That program - New Beginnings - has been presented to an estimated quarter-million students over the last two decades, and offers kids ways to fight drug abuse, violence prevention and halting other risky behavior. Phillips gets funding from a $200,000 grant and credits state Sen. Steven Tolman, D-Brighton, for his support. ``There are a lot of kids doing well,'' he said. ``But there are kids not doing well.'' During the conference, principals, coaches, social workers and other staffers reviewed ways to help kids facing drug and alcohol addiction.
An Island Home
We do not know who is doing this, and if we talk to the men operating the bulldozers, they say, We dont know. We ask the officers, and they [just] say, We have orders. Abdel-Moati is tilling his land with the help of his two grandsons. The toddlers, both of whom are no bigger than the axe in their grandfathers hands, are brandishing mini-axes which they occasionally use; more often than not, they are scurrying around like puppies. Abdel-Moati rests his axe to talk to us. I am 65. The land has been ours since the time of my grandfather. He died here, and so did my father. I live in this house over there. We plant the land and live off it. We have asked the government for nothing. We do not have pensions and we never ask for help. We just want to be left alone. He too speaks of the rotten water.
Habitual offender pleads, gets state prison time
A Clinton Township man will spend time in state prison for repeated crimes committed to feed his drug addiction. Ronald G. Rummings, 45, of 90 Louise Ave. was sentenced to a minimum of 15 months and maximum of seven years by Lycoming County Judge William S. Kieser. Rummings faces added charges of burglary at an Old Lycoming Township home, where in July he allegedly took a safe containing $30,000 and jewelry. He faces similar accusations in Tioga County. Before his sentence was handed down on forgery, theft and drunken driving and driving under suspension offenses, Rummings, with public defender Jeana A. Longo by his side, asked Kieser if he could attend drug court. Drug court gives participants a chance to restore their lives by working with adult probation and counselors to stay off drugs.
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