By Patric Hedlund
Carl Beckett is the dynamic resident agent-in-charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) for Kern County. He is on his way to a new assignment in Peru, South America next month. Before he leaves, he has a message for our mountain about drugs and kids.
The good news, say parents and families, is that “Denial is over, we are ready to start talking openly about these things here…it is time for a community conversation.”
What, for instance, is the changing role of Mexican drug cartels in Kern County? What is the top drug-related cause of injury and death to young people now? Why does it sometimes take so long for law enforcement to make an arrest after receiving a tip? What is the good news about our local community? What are the simple things we can all do to be part of the solution?
Get informed. Bring your friends. It is time for a community conversation.
Save Friday, March 21, 7 p.m. to join in the ‘Open It Up’ Drug-Free Community Town Hall. The event is convened as a special town hall by A.J. and Frances Durocher, hosted at Pine Mountain Club for all mountain residents. Dinner is available before the event at the clubhouse restaurant.
Everyone in the Mountain Communities is urged to open up to be part of the conversation—students, parents, elders, business owners, educators, churches, families and community groups—all are urged to mark their calendars and come to get the facts.
Beckett will be joined by members of the Stop Meth Now! team, MyC3 (Mountain Youth Can Change Communities) and surprise guests. Kern County Sheriff’s Sergeant Mark Brown of the Frazier Park substation has a report about recent changes in local law enforcement discoveries.
Groups that sponsor activities for young people are invited to staff tables at the event to introduce some of the fun opportunities available to mountain youth.
In his comments, Beckett will tell how ‘Spice’ and bath salts are causing injuries and deaths to Kern County’s young people. Do you know what those are, what they look like and what they do?
There is great news too. MyC3 will present one of their award-winning media projects “Keep Being Our Parents.” They also sponsored the Color the Mountain run last fall, raising funds to provide a youth leadership camp retreat this summer for 40 Mountain Community seventh graders.
The ‘Open It Up’ Town Hall is co-sponsored by the Rotary Club, the Mountain Communities Chamber of Commerce, The Mountain Enterprise, Mountain Communities Coalition Against Substance Abuse (McCASA), Dixie King and Stop Meth Now!, Shelter on the Hill, Frazier Mountain High School’s Future Farmers of America, Focus Central, Boy Scouts of America Unit 242, the VFW and The Club (the ‘teens only’ adjunct to the Boys & Girls Club).
So, grab your family and friends, make it a date to come out on Friday, March 21 for the real scoop about local drug activity and all the good things there are for teens to do on the mountain.
Help to open up our community’s fact-based conversation at the ‘Open It Up’ Town Hall for a Drug Free Community.
March 21 • 7 p.m.
Pine Mountain Club Condor Room
•All Mountain residents invited•
No-host dinner available at clubhouse restaurant from 5 p.m.
2524 Beechwood Dr.
(off of Mil Potrero Highway)
This is part of the March 14, 2014 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.
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