Willaims County DARE Program “Iffy”

Ques­tions are swirling around the future, or lack of a future, of the Williams County DARE pro­gram due to fund­ing issues.

The pro­gram is oper­ated through the Williams County Sheriff’s Office, which now reports a short­age of future fund­ing from the Williams County com­mis­sion­ers office.

The Cres­cent News reports that Sher­iff Steve Towns is ask­ing for $85,000-$100,000 in fund­ing from the gen­eral fund for two road patrol deputies. Mean­while, the com­mis­sion­ers want the sher­iff pull the DARE and county road scale offi­cers from their duties to add to the num­ber of patrol units on the high­way. If that is done, then the DARE pro­gram could be in jeop­ardy for the fol­low­ing school year.

The DARE pro­gram, which offers an anti-drug mes­sage, and was dropped a few years ago due to fund­ing issues, but was restarted this school year, is funded in part by a match­ing grant, but it would still need approx­i­mately $25,000 for the next year. Now, the sheriff’s office is seek­ing funds from pri­vate donors to sus­tain the DARE pro­gram.

For more infor­ma­tion or to make a dona­tion, con­tact the Williams County Sheriff’s Office.