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Verl Todd


Last Updated: 3/31/2009

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Gender: Male
Status: Married
Age: 38
Sign: Gemini

City: TALLAHASSEE
State: FLORIDA
Country: US
Signup Date: 2/22/2006
Wednesday, March 25, 2009 
By Mae Yousif-Bashi • mbashi@news-press.com • March 24, 2009
Like ghosts, they watched scene by scene, how their life could end up if they made a few wrong decisions.
The students in Pam Staub’s Gulf Elementary class were just 19 out of about 2,000 Lee County fifth-grade students who will be able to see first-hand consequences of what it would be like to choose to drink and driving, smoke and pop pills.
“The expectations at this point are that hopefully, we can reach them at this age to make good decisions when they’re faced with them,” Staub said.

Drug House Odyssey, coordinated by Dana Kinnard of the Coalition for a Drug-Free Southwest Florida takes place at Cape Christian Fellowship. It is meant to be a graphic, real-life 40-minute play beginning with a casual encounter of drinking and drugs and ending with a morgue.

Tuesday was the first of the three-day event. It will be open to the public Wednesday evening from 6 to 9 p.m.

Kinnard said this year’s focus is fifth-grade students, whereas last year, it was eighth graders who participated.

Coordinators try to make it age appropriate by using aspects fifth graders can relate to, such as babysitting and wanting to hang out with older teens, Kinnard said.

Students from Cypress Lake High School and South Fort Myers High School’s drama and Students Against Destructive Decisions groups played roles in each of the scenes, which took place in and outside of portables on the fellowship’s property.

Staub and her students began their adventure Tuesday morning as they sat back and watched a 14-year-old babysitter named Sarah as she struggled with peer pressure.

They follow the story as one of the actors is pulled over for drinking and driving, arrested and sentenced to a year of probation and community service in a courtroom.

Within each scene, real professionals from groups such as the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, Lee Memorial Health System, and the Cape Coral Fire Department play their parts in helping students such as 11-year-old Austin Reid learn how to make good decisions.

“If you smoke, there are lots of consequences, things that can stay with you your whole life,” Reid said. “And you shouldn’t take meds that aren’t yours, you can go to jail just for that.”

Smoking, alcoholic energy drinks and prescription medications were new areas of coverage for this year’s event.

“We’ve taken problems in Lee County and addressed those specifically,” Kinnard said. “It’s all about educating the kids.”
1:24 PM
 
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