EDITORIAL: Stopping just one...

It’s difficult to find a truly adequate excuse for the Greencastle-Antrim High School opting out of the recent anti-drunk driving program offered by the county throughout most of the county.

The Franklin/Fulton Counties Drug and Alcohol Department organized the effort to bring the Save a Life Tour to the area. Three years ago the G-AHS Peer Leaders ran a successful fundraiser to gather funds to bring the reality program here. This time the county was footing the bill.

So why didn’t the local school partake of the program. Logistics and scheduling were noted as the problem areas. We understand that at the last minute the Chambersburg district also opted out of the program coming to CASHS.

We understand what a headache it must be to schedule for a high school. We’ve also seen many events happen at the school that it doesn’t seem scheduling is a viable excuse.

We are thankful that the Save a Life Tour did visit the Franklin County Career and Technology Center, so some G-AHS students were exposed to it. While school officials are working with the county to get a speaker for next year, it appears a whole cycle of students will have missed a chance to experience Save a Life. The program would have come to the school’s front door and at no cost.

The message to not drink and drive may seem old and cliched, but it never ceases to be extremely important. We missed an important opportunity last week.

We think the county prevention specialist, Lauri Ryder, said it best in assessing the value of the program, “It was worth it if it stopped even one person, young or old, from drinking and driving.”