To the Editor:
I am writing in concern of all the publicity surrounding the Belle Vernon Area drug issue. For some reason this is the newest dirty little secret that no one wants to address head on, not just in our area but probably nationwide. First of all I would like to thank and commend the BVA School Board and the school itself, and all in the community who would like to make a difference for our kids.
My concern is that those who choose to speak out, are being chastised for doing so. Some of the quotes made do have an explanation which was not conveyed in the news story. The percentage was blown way out of proportion without an accurate explanation of where that number came from. It was written in the paper without benefit of the person being quoted even being at the meeting.
Who on earth could possibly know the number of kids using, or who have used. I think we all should get past the number and recognize that there may be a problem before we have a tragedy. Maybe the number isn't as important as we seem to think. These prescription drugs are serious. Maybe as a community we could be proud that Belle Vernon is a community that wants to help our kids before they have a problem that is almost impossible to reverse.
When this all started, for some reason we had a large group show up. Now that weeks have passed only a handful still have shown up. I'm sure it is not a lack of interest as much as people not knowing about the meeting possibly. But my concern is still the same. At these meetings, no matter who makes a comment, the media needs to be careful to not take the comment out of context.
There was a parent quoted as commenting that "we need to get in their faces." If not at this meeting this could be taken that we are against the kids. Being at the meeting what was said was that we need to let the kids know that we want to help them, that we are paying attention and that we care. We can all agree that this dirty little secret is new to us as parents and those of us in attendance want to learn as much as we can to help our kids not fall victim to this drug. If this means helping other kids along the way we are all in agreement that we are willing to do that as well.
My bottom line is to the news media, thank you so much for bringing this to the forefront and helping us as a community to see clearly somewhere that our kids need guidance. How about not so much sensationalism towards a delicate situation.
In my opinion it will make people not want to attend or speak as their words could be twisted by the press.
Natalie Manack
Belle Vernon
