A community sponsors 'town-hall' meeting to talk about substance abuse

       The Community Wellness Council of the Bellmores and Merricks wants to tell stories about drug abuse.
       Not the glamorous kind too often portrayed by Hollywood. Not the nostalgic type shared among college buddies. Rather, the Wellness Council wishes to convey the stories of area residents who have suffered, in one way or another, the pain and humiliation of drug addiction.
      To do so, the council is sponsoring a "town-hall" meeting at 7:30 P.M. Thursday, Nov. 30, at Calhoun High School. All Bellmore-Merrick parents are invited. The meeting will feature a discussion about substance abuse by a panel of four or five residents.
      Tempo Group, a drug-rehabilitation clinic, and the Community Parent Center, both based at the Brookside School in North Merrick, are co-sponsoring the forum with the Wellness Council. The Bellmore, North Bellmore, Merrick and North Merrick elementary districts, their PTAs and the Central High School District Coordinating PTA are providing support for the event.
      The evening's theme is: "You know where your kids are, but do you know what they are doing?" The purpose behind the forum is to give residents a sense of drug addiction's devastating effects, as well as to help them understand how to avoid or overcome substance abuse.
      Barry Wilansky, who will moderate the forum, is Tempo Group's executive director. "Everybody knows that substance abuse is the number-one problem facing this nation in its education, in its health care and its family life," said Mr. Wilansky. "We all know that, but to talk about it is very complicated.
      "When we get the experts to talk about it, they lecture us from their own perspective," he said. "After 30 years of lectures, we're really no better off."
      Indeed, recent national trends in substance abuse are alarming. Marijuana use, for example, steadily declined from 1975 to 1991; then that statistic suddenly jumped again during the 1990's, according to a survey compiled by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
      The agency attributed the spike to young people between ages 12 and 17 taking up the drug. The number of young people smoking marijuana rose from 39 persons in 1,000 in 1991 to 75 per 1,000 in 1995.
      Abuse of heroin, crack-cocaine, hallucinogens, inhalants, cigarettes and alcohol all rose among young people between 1991 and 1995, the survey indicated. Most recent statistics show that trend may have leveled off, but experts still worry.
      Gail Volk, the Wellness Council coordinator, said drug addiction "is a problem that affects not just Bellmore-Merrick, but every community on Long Island as well as the country."
      After the town-hall meeting, Ms. Volk hopes to develop a series of smaller substance-abuse-prevention workshops that will be available to residents at schools throughout Bellmore-Merrick. Parents can sign up for these forums during the town-hall meeting, she said.
      Marilee Coughlin, president of the Wellness Council Board of Directors, said, "Is there drug and alcohol abuse in Bellmore-Merrick? Yes, there is, just as there is in every other community on Long Island.
      "Can we do something about it?" she said. "Yes, if we are willing to openly discuss the problem and work together to find solutions."
      Janet Goller, president of the Central District Board of Education and also a Wellness Council trustee, said, "We try to provide parents with programs, but we don't always get a good attendance. A lot of times, people say you're going to be having a program and preaching to the choir, but you have to try."
      Calhoun High School is at 1786 State Street in North Merrick. For more information or directions to Calhoun, call the Community Parent Center at (516) 771-9346.
      

$625K grant for after-school program

      The Central High School, North Merrick and North Bellmore districts recently received a five-year, $625,000 grant for after-school programs, said Kate Collins, the Central administrator who wrote the master's thesis-size grant proposal.
      The award will enable the Central District to expand its Advantage After-School Program, which now serves 100 students at Grand Avenue and Merrick Avenue middle schools. The program, in its third year, is intended to keep young people off the streets, out of trouble and away from drugs. It provides myriad educational and entertainment programs. It also asks students to perform community service once a week by visiting older adults at the Belair Extended Care Center on Jerusalem Avenue in North Bellmore.
      Tempo Group, the drug-rehabilitation clinic in North Merrick, runs the after-school program. Ms. Collins said that previously, one Tempo social worker was split between the two middle schools. "Thanks to the grant," she said, "we will have one social worker at each site, which is a big improvement for the program."
      With the grant, the North Merrick and North Bellmore districts will also develop after-school programs similar to that of the Central District.
      The Community Wellness Council of the Bellmores and Merricks worked closely with the Central High School District in securing the grant. Gail Volk, the Wellness Council coordinator, furiously solicited all the necessary signatures from local community officials for the grant, said Ms. Collins.