Citizens can be proud of two recent accomplishments in theLincoln County Sheriff’s Department’s war to keep drugs off ourstreets. One program focuses on education while the other validatesquality of the department’s drug interdiction effort.

The Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program has touchedmany lives in its Lincoln County history, and 589 local sixthgraders were added last week to the list of graduates. Through DAREOfficer Sudie Palomarez’s work, the program attempts to educate andsteer the students away from drugs before they become moresusceptible to peer pressure.

While DARE probably will not be 100 percent successful,Palomarez, the sheriff’s department and program sponsors are to becommended for their hard work to inform children about the dangersof drugs and the value of living drug-free lives.

The sheriff’s department’s other recent honor was NarcoticsOfficer Dustin Bairfield’s and his drug dog Ricky’s victory in anational canine narcotics detection competition.

The canine team placed first among a field that included over 80canine narcotics teams from across the United States. Bairfield andRicky, along with fellow officer Chris Picou and his dog Rico, wonthe combined team regional competition.

While DARE focuses more on the education aspect of the drug war,the narcotic officers’ work is geared toward prevention. Theirefforts form a winning combination in which all Lincoln Countianscan share in the victory.