FELTON TO HOLD DARE GRADUATION FRIDAY

Twenty-seven Felton Laboratory School students will graduate from a 17-week DARE ( Drug Abuse Resistance Education ) America Program at 10 a.m.  Friday, April 16, in the school gymnasium.

The public is encouraged to attend.

Guest speaker will be Columbia City Manager Charles P.  Austin Sr., who received his bachelor's and doctorate degrees from S.C.  State.

Austin worked in law enforcement for more than 20 years, and served as Columbia's chief of police from 1990 to 2001.

The South Carolina State University Police Department sponsors the DARE program each year to educate fifth-graders about the dangers of drugs.

"Students learn they have choices, alternatives and rights," DARE instructor Cpl.  Herman Singletary said.  "One of those rights is to say no to drugs."