Guest Column: Lewisboro should remain in drug council

Written by Patty Warble
Thursday, 05 November 2009 00:00

Recently, I appeared at the town of Lewisboro budget hearings to ask the Town Board members to keep $6,500 of the $13,000 Bedford/Lewisboro/Pound Ridge Drug Abuse Prevention Council (DAPC) overall budget in their $7-million proposed 2010 budget. Lee Roberts, supervisor of Bedford, and Gary Warshauer, supervisor of Pound Ridge, have graciously agreed to this financial arrangement because they want to do everything they can to keep Lewisboro part of the DAPC so that the residents of Lewisboro can continue to benefit from our programs and services. I have made cutbacks so that the DAPC can continue to operate within this budget. I know that Lewisboro has a serious financial situation but during this time of stress and anxiety the prevention role that the DAPC plays in this community is even more critical.

Research shows that prevention works and rewards: A dollar spent for prevention now saves many more dollars that would have otherwise been needed down the road to deal with serious issues. When the DAPC began in 1980, it included only Bedford and Pound Ridge. However, it quickly became clear that it made no sense to have only two of the three towns that have children in the Katonah-Lewisboro School District involved in the DAPC. At that point, Lewisboro asked to become part of the DAPC and since then the three towns have been funding the DAPC.

I am hopeful that the Town Board members understand the important role that the DAPC has played in this community for the past 18 years and will fund the DAPC at the reduced rate for next year and beyond. If Lewisboro does not remain a member of the DAPC, the programs, presentations, and parenting workshops that are now open to all the residents of Bedford, Lewisboro, and Pound Ridge will only be available to those families who pay taxes to Bedford and Pound Ridge. This issue becomes complicated when applied to Increase Miller Elementary School. The families that pay taxes to Lewisboro, along with the families at Meadow Pond and Lewisboro elementary schools, will not be eligible to receive services or attend DAPC programs.

In my role as the executive director of the DAPC, when I sponsor or support an initiative, I think of it as throwing pebbles in a pond. The positive ripple effects that occur in a community cannot be measured, but the stories I have been told confirm the positive behavior changes that have occurred as a result of attending a DAPC program. For example, it might be a student making a decision not to use alcohol or drive a car under the influence because of what the student learned at a Family U workshop given by Mike Nerney about the vulnerability of the teen brain when exposed to alcohol and drugs. Or it could be a mom getting some strategies from Joel Haber to deal with a devastating bullying situation. Or it might be the many students who got into treatment the day after attending Been There, Done That at Family U. Or it could be an overwhelmed parent who takes a class to deal with the challenges of parenting and does not resort to alcohol or drug use to deal with frustrations.

During my 18 years in this job, countless parents have told me how the DAPC programs dramatically changed their lives for the better. If you are one of those parents and a resident of Lewisboro, I am asking that you contact the Lewisboro board members, (their e-mail addresses are at lewisborogov.com) and share those positive stories so that your elected officials can better understand how the DAPC programs impact families in a concrete and personal way. The DAPC is committed to helping the families of Lewisboro raise their children in a healthy way, one family at a time.

To learn more about current programs go to thedapc.org.

Ms. Warble, a licensed master social worker and certified prevention professional, is the executive director of DAPC.