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'DON'T VEX ABOUT ME, I'M DRUG FREE'

"What keeps me drug free?" was the subject for a new and innovative competition among Grayson County students in the fourth and fifth grades.  The brainchild of Denison's Wayne Campbell, the essay contest had students from eight schools get involved.

The essay winner, Cheyenne Nichols, hails from Denison's Golden Rule Elementary.  The fifth-grader wrote a fictional five-paragraph, first-person story where a youngster's friend dies from alcohol and drug use.  The impact hits in the middle, when she, as the first person, identifies her friend lying beneath a white sheet.

"It's about 300 words," said the winner.  "We could have written 350 words." In this essay, the writer chose her words succinctly, wasting no ink.

Cheyenne's twin sister, Lacy Nichols, took a different approach to her essay.  She opted to list her goals in life - driver's license, college, job, professional dog showing - as reasons for staying drug free.  "If I waste my life away by using drugs, there would be no reason to live.  I could not accomplish my goals or be happy," Lacy wrote.

Golden Rule Principal Karen Sawyer said Friday was Cheyenne Day.  Campbell said they honored Cheyenne in an assembly before breaking to feast on ice cream ( desert first ) and hot dogs.

"The kids were whooping and hollering and having the best time," Campbell said.  "And they all knew it was because of Cheyenne's essay."

Cheyenne Nichols stands in front of Wayne Campbell's drug awareness trailer.

Sawyer called Cheyenne an "excellent student, one who handles responsibility beyond what a fifth-grade student should have." She makes straight A's, said Sawyer, and did well on her TAKS test.  She, like twin Lacy, is a dog show trainer.

Cheyenne, the daughter of Debbie and James Nichols, said she wasn't nervous on stage getting her award, but when she was back on ground with the other students, it got "scary.  They were coming up to me and saying 'thank you,' and it felt really weird," the youngster said about her newfound fame.  She said she's not quite ready to become a rock 'n roll star yet because the limelight is not for her.  "Being known by everybody is kind of scary," she said with a shrug and downward glance.

But the party was awesome, she said.

She's seen people in her age group begin to use drugs, although she said she's never seen them at Golden Rule.  She described some of their changes, saying.  "They get moody, there's definite attitude changes.

"Why? That's the question, why use drugs? I don't get it," vented Cheyenne.  She was emphatic that drugs will never be an option in her life.

Campbell spends much of his time and resources in a war against drugs that could make high-financed corporations envious of his community service, including his always-available Drug Awareness trailer.

Campbell said he was just sitting and thinking one night, "We don't do enough for our children.  We should do more," and the essay contest idea flashed in his head.  Immediately, he got two sponsors on board, Blue Bunny Ice Cream and American Bank, he said.  Next, he got the word to every school about the contest, then the essays began rolling in.

Judging were Sherman Police Chief Tom Watt, District Judge Lauri Blake, American Bank's Jerry Cato, Denison Chamber of Commerce's Mark Edwards, and this reporter.

Campbell left Golden Rule and its party Friday afternoon with twofold attitudes, he said, glad that this was over, but ready to jump back in with both feet for next year's competition.

"Many of the teachers in the smaller school districts, like Tioga," Campbell said, "are happy to have the essay contest." He explained that some of them don't have resources on drug use and awareness and used the competition to have students study up on it.

"Plus, the kids want to do it again," Campbell said with a satisfied sigh.  "I've never seen the enthusiasm."

Everyone's a winner Following are excerpts from a few of the essays entered.  Several writers, like Lacy, listed their goals as inducements.  Some identified cigarettes as a drug and alcohol as the front doors to drug use.  Some said they wouldn't want to hurt their families and friends.  Some recognized the illegality, repercussions, and underworld of the drug world.  One mentioned that if a friend asks her to hold a cigarette lighter, she would say "no," to that request.  One student wrote as if in a diary, another obviously studied the various types of drugs and their ill effects.

As varied as the students were, so were the essays.

From Tioga

"The most popular reason that people take drugs is because they want to be cool.  Those people don't realize that to be cool is to not take them." - Salma Gonzalez "I knew a person that got high on drugs, got a divorce, and left her 4-year-old baby.  Who could do that to a child especially that young?...  I still wonder why she took that road today." - Mariah Switzer From Perrin

"My family helps me make good decisions." - Zadie Cook "You can't do drugs if you want to succeed and you can't do drugs if you want to be a good person.  You don't want to be a loser." - Claudia Baker From Terrell

"They ( drugs ) don't take away stress like people say they do, they give you stress...  It's not cool, it's not fun." - Brittany Corwin "Being drug free means I am not bound or constrained by a drug and I am free to live a healthy and balanced life." - Jenna Martin From Pottsboro "This is a reason, a very very special reason - my conscience.  If I...  take a sip of beer or wine, my conscience is there.  My final reason is God.  If I do drugs, I'm dising God." - Josef C.

"I choose to be drug free because my family loves me...  I can't stand the thought of them feeling sad." - Dylan Wheeler From Van Alstyne "It's important to choose your friends wisely and if a friend tries to make me do drugs then they are not my friend...  It's better to be your own person than to follow the crowd." - Anastasia Burke "I want to stay drug free for my Mommy...  Daddy...  Meme...  Papa...  friends...  brother...  me.  ( about his younger brother ) They always say 'monkey see, monkey do' and he wants to everything I do." - Bailey Saxton "Did they know that their liver and brains are going to look like road kill.  Their teeth will be yellower than a manilla sheet." ( about watching other kids smoke marijuana )- J.  Bailey From Collinsville "I don't want to go spoil my life on some scandalous drugs that are like garbage that should be thrown in outer space." - Dakota Cantrell "They ask you if you want some crack.  If you say 'yes,' you just threw your whole life away."- Katherine Fallin "I'm a free bird.  I won't take drugs.  I'm a free soul and don't take drugs.  Don't vex about me, I'm drug free." - Sara Eakerns