The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

/ 8 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, January 14, 1986 by Cathy Robb Never had so many teenagers gathered in one place at one time to watch the evening news. "That's why I never watch the news, it's so depressOOOH LOOK, THERE'S AMY!" Bédlam ensured as CFTO-TV ran a short film clip promoting things 'coming up next" on Nighbeat News, There, smack dab in the middle of Ian Irvine's rec room TV set, was Amy Ware of Port Perry High School talking about SADD (Students Against Drunk Driving). "SCREAM!" "Qh, promise not to scream or we'll never hear it!" "SHRIEK! Can you believe this?" "C-mon, we've gotta promise not to scream." "Oh, look, I-think"this might be it!" "Nah, it's just some thing about AIDS." "HOLLER! This is it, this is got to be it!" - "And it was, after patiently sitting through a little more than a half an hour of world and local news, weather and The Stars Tonight, the group gathered in student lan Ir- vine's basement saw what they had come to see. It was Thursday, January 9th, six hours after reporter Jim Wicks and cameraman Tom Johnston from CFTO-TV had taped a regular SADD meeting and interviewed several of the key characters involv- ed in the newly formed student group. The segment was a regular feature called Heartbeat, two minutes or so of prime time footage covering various stories about peo- ple in Toronto and the surrounding area. On this particular night, SADD was featured and for viewers tuned in to the program it might have been just another story. For the hard- working, enthusiastic members of SADD, it was a small victory in their war against impaired drivers. The group was formed several months ago as the direct resuit of the alcohol-related accidental deaths of students at the school, five . deaths in seven months, eleven in three years. Since then more than 100 young people have joined SADD's ranks with several sub-committees, regular weekly meetings and, the high point so far, a well attended public meeting _just before Christmas. Four Grade Thirteen girls are at SADD's helm, including Student Council president Gerri MacDonald, 'vice-president Heidi Spannbauer, Amy Ware and Lynn Bradbury. Teacher Paul Arculus has been the catalyst who suggested forming SADD in the first place and who has been there all along to offer advice and encouragement. Part of SADD's mandate has been to spread the anti-drinking and driv- ing message to other schools all over and as a result, the leaders began to look at ways to garner national publicity. It was Amy Ware who realized she lived on the same William's Point road as two CFTO employees, Debbie Holbik and Peter Parker, and gave the pair a few highlighted newspaper Shppings SHR SADE, They took the information to the station's news department and by New Year's Eve, Amy received con- firmation that CFTO would be doing a segment on SADD. "Their story was sincere enough and I admire what they're doing," reporter Jim Wicks said about the group. He admitted the station could have done a feature on any other SADD group closer to Toronto but his attention was caught by the number of students deaths in Port Perry, the number of students in- volved in the program (10 per cent of the school), and the overall en- thusiasm of its members. "I think what is poignant here is the number of deaths," Mr. Wicks explained. 'That's the tragedy." Former model crippled Wendy Crawford, a beautiful aspiring model who was crippled by an accident with an impaired driver, will tell her story at an up- coming public SADD meeting. On February 5th the doors of Port Perry High School will-be thrown open to the community for this special presentation featuring Ms. Crawford, one of the subjects of Make Sure It's Not You, a documen- tary produced by the Ministry of the Attorney General. The film will be shown followed by a session with Ms. Crawford and a question and answer period. It all NEW YEAR'S by intoxicated driver gets started at 7 p.m. SADD (Students Against Driving Drunk) has also introduced 'Q- Line," an information service for parents or anyone else concerned about impaired driving. A box is being set up at the Port Perry Star office for questions that will be answered by members of SADD and printed within the pages of the Star. For more information about either program, call 985-7337 and ask for either Gerri MacDonald, Amy Ware, Lynn Bradbury or Heidi Spannbauer. ¢ SPECIAL ... AY a Vv Ale Theme Decorating * Balloons * Invitations * Food * Games * Crafts * Activities * Party Bags 30 Different Parties to choose from raat enffhmorafirorndid * Snacks * Character Cake * Dishes *Cutlery SS @ SADD hits the big time on CFTO A pensive Jim Wicks talks to Heidi Spann- bauer about her tragic friendship with the late Ed Shook, killed in a car accident last spring. The 'Led by Mike Relf (far left), a group of students entertain with a song they wrote Exuberant SADD members (Students Against Driving Drunk), pose with the two peo- accident, she said, sparked her interest in do- ing something about impaired drivers. f | v E a ---- i a jot ee -------- a ---- at themselves about the perils of drunk driving. pe ple who gave them national publicity on CFTO- TV, Tom Johnston and Jim Wicks. Be EEEEEE------