Don’t Go There a Community forum aimed at raising awareness about the dangers of drug and alcohol consumption among our youth.
Rialto Community Coalition brings this informative forum working with Rialto Police Department & Rialto Unified School District.
This event will include A resource zone where Students, Parents and Educators can obtain information on how to deal with Drug and Alcohol Consumption, start the conversation or deal with use that is ongoing. We are also proud to announce that Ray Lazano the highly popular world wide drug and alcohol counselor will be our keynote speaker. We will also have a Panel where people in attendance can ask questions of Coalition members, School District personnel, Rialto Police dept. staff and more……
Check the event listing for an up to date list of everything that they will have going on.
Come early and meet Diana Wehbe and the 99.1 street team who will be doing a live remote.
This week the people that make up your Rialto Community Coalition Rialto Police Department are coming together to bring you a public forum tackling the problem of drug and alcohol use and abuse among teens especially during prom and graduation season which is kicking off in full gear this April. Here are some facts that show our teens are under attack of further danger:
More teens die from prescription drugs than heroin/cocaine combined.
In 2013, more high school seniours regularly used marijuana than cigarettes as 22.7 percent smoked pot in the last month, compared to 16.3 percent who smoked cigarettes.
60 percent of seniors don’t see regular marijana use as harmful, but THC (the active ingredient in the drug that causes addiction) is nearly five times stronger than it was 20 years ago.
One-third of teenagers who live in states with medical marijuana laws get their pot from other people’s prescriptions.
By the 8th grade, 28 percent of adolescents have consumed alcohol, 15 percent have smoked cigarettes, and 16.5 percent have used marijuana.
These are just a few of the staggering statistics on drug and alcohol use in our schools. Talking with the members of the Rialto Community Coalition I found out why it was so important for them to hold this event. David Phillips said “when we were working on the issue of synthetic drugs we found out that education was the missing component. Education on all three sides of the equation the youth who thought these were safe forms of drug use (because they were sold over the counter). Parents who had no idea their kids had harmful drugs right before them (because of their colorful packaging and being sold over the counter). Finally our teachers with a combination of packed out classrooms and a lack of education on the issue with the false information that these drugs were legal leaving educators with a sense of helplessness.
So what the Coalition decided was to hold a 3 hour public forum mainly consisting of three components.
A Vendor Resource zone where parents, educators and youth can get additional resources or help with what they already are dealing with or my deal with in the future.
Key Note speaker Ray Lozano from Prevention Plus to speak to the teens at their level on these dangers and why they should avoid them at all costs. Ray said Continuous effort, strength and intelligence are the key for a young person to reach their full potential. When they start using marijuana, not only do those qualities vanish, but their uniqueness is lost and they become generic.
A Q&A Panel where attendees can ask questions and get answers from people that know and are part of the solution.
Laniea Dominguez of comedy for causes is going to MC this event when we asked her why she is getting involved she said this “I lost my mom to drugs & alcohol and wanted to give my children a better memory of me. I wanted to be part of this event to remind teens that life has sooo much to offer & it’s up to them to chose to live it or lose it.”
The event is this Friday April 4th from 5-8 pm and will include a visit from Diana Wehbe & the 99.1 KGGI Radio Street team, Rialto Police Department will have its under the influence simulator for people to experience the varied levels of how it feels to be under the influence. This all goes down at Eisenhower High School in the Gym at 1321 N Lilac Rialto, Ca 92376.
For more information contact Michael Townsend on the flyer or visit their Facebook event posting at the link below.
Any and all media are free to use the content here for free please notify the Media Relations person David Phillips at 909-534-9558 or Davidsmarketing@aol.com
Well last Thursday the people of area’s 1&2 were treated to the first Area Command meeting of 2014. One thing that is clear that this is one of the regularly scheduled public venues that gets a little bit better each and every time. One component recently added to these meetings are the police department education meetings. The first one I remember is last year they had the staff from dispatch come out and educate the community on what dispatch does, why dispatch operates the way it does & how you can help the dispatcher answer your call as quickly as possible.
This year the special presentation is on our Investigative Unit how it operates, who makes up the staff, what their prospective duties are and some frequently asked questions that everyone found interesting and helpful. Even Area Command Leader Lt Karol gave everyone useful tips to help minimize your vulnerability to identity theft. We were presented with information from the following people:
Mike Story (City Administrator) – Went over the Mayors first public Q&A event with city dept heads, various activities that took place at the end of 2013. Mike Story also went over The Rialto Institute of Progress an 8-week program that will be held from March 6th to April 24th. Sessions will be held at the Rialto Civic Center in the Council Chambers from 6:30 to 8:30 pm. After completion, the community members will have an increased understanding of Rialto’s organizational structure, of the operations of our City Departments, and how they impact the quality of life in the City of Rialto.
Shawn O’Connell (Councilman) – Councilman O’Connell addressed his accident and thanked everyone for their support and prayers. Councilman also spoke about the new City Attorney and congratulated everyone in the city for their efforts to help make Rialto a better place to live.
Detective Stella & Detective Farmer (Rialto Police) – These two gentlemen gave us a look into the Investigations Unit and helped the people in attendance better understand how and why the Detectives do what they do. Lt. Andy Karol gave us a mini education on steps you can take to better protect yourself from identity theft.
Amy Crow (Waste Management) – Amy went over the senior & disabled person discount for trash services. She also highlighted the park cleanup schedule and other services the city offers like shred fest.
Linda (Cert) – Linda one of the training volunteers came up to introduce the CERT program. CERT stands for Community Emergency Response Training. The idea behind CERT and the importance of the program is in the event of a natural disaster EMS services will be primarily diverted to Schools & Hospitals leaving the communities on their own for up to 72 hours. CERT teaches you basic life saving skills and ways to gain shelter and safety as a Neighborhood unit.
Cpl. Cameron Nelson (Rialto Police) – Cpl. Nelson is the community liason officer for Rialto Police and came up to highlight some up coming programs. First was Golf With A Cop which gives kids ages 10-17 the opportunity to learn golf from a PGA player and other top notch golf instructors. An added benefit is if kids can hold a specific GPA they can play for free at Colton Golf Course all year long. Second was Fuel for Success a effort to get at risk kids to find the importance of staying in school and striving for excellence. The 2014 program will be held at Eisenhower High and will follow the look and feel of Rialto Police highly successful National Night Out program. The final presentation was on the Pride Platoon program that takes troubled, at risk or youth without direction and give them a program that is used to put them on the right track and give them needed tools for success in life. This program has been awarded multiple programs and cited as helping reduce our youth crime in the city of rialto.
Lt. Andy Karol (Rialto Police) – Lt Karol gave us a break down of some of the events that happened over 2013. He also showed us crime data that shows even though crime in California has increased crime in Rialto has decreased by 20%. He also introduced the Next Door Virtual Neighborhood Watch program. Next Door was created by venture capitalists to help communities connect in the biggest way we interact today via technology. Next Door is a FREE program and helps those communities where we don’t know our neighbors to connect. To sign up for Next door or learn more about it visit https://nextdoor.com/
Lt Kathy Thompson (Rialto Police) – Lt Thompson came up to introduce the public to the Police Community Program where residents are introduced to the inner workings of the police department and given a mini education into the job of a police department. As a former attendee of this and other similar classes with cities like Redlands, San Bernardino and the County of San Bernardino this program is top notch and gives you a awesome perspective on what our police do and how they do it.
The Area Command meetings are a vital tool in empowering the Rialto community to take a proactive role in helping make Rialto a great place to live, work & play. The information given at these meetings goes well beyond the presentations its extended to the wealth of information in the manner of the many flyers and printed materials available as well as the ability to talk 1-1 with people that help you with any given situation, problem or question.
If you missed this meeting your in luck there is another one coming up on Monday February 3rd at Calvary Chapel Rialto on the corner of Merrill and Cedar at 7pm. This meeting is geared towards the lower half of the city areas 3 & 4 (everything south of foothill) but anyone is welcome to come. Here are some flyers for your reference:
Welcome everyone to 2014 lets start it off with a massive council meeting! Tonight the city council will address among other things the cities first quarter budget, items with the closure of the Airport and weather to replace the City Attorney Jimmy Gutierrez or keep him. The city attorney issue was supposed to be dealt with in 2013 but with allegiances forming on one side or another and the tragic accident of Councilman Shawn O’Connell this issue was pushed into January.
Reading Councilman O’Connell’s twitter account it doesn’t appear that their will be an easy choice.
“Still recovering but will be attending tonight’s City Council meeting. Hopefully the city attorney position will be decided tonight.”
With so many important decisions being made today many local community groups and organizations are looking to drive home the importance of the community getting involved and learning more about what is going on in their city government.
If you can’t attend you can follow along with us as we tweet out the hot topics via twitter just follow www.tiatter.com/rialtosnow we tweet it under the hashtag #RialtoCityCouncil
“Help us help others” Coffee Nutzz wants to help our local community this holiday season, contact us if you know someone that can use some extra help this Thanksgiving. #givingbackto thecommunity #rialto#coffeenutzz andy@coffeenutzz.com
With yet another coffee with the chief coming and going I thought it would be nice to highlight what was talked about at the August meeting at Coffee Nutz.
Twenty four people attended the event and we had people from all walks of life and various organizations that serve various purposes for the community.
In attendance (of note) were Linda Chapman Humans Relations Commission, Michael Townsend from the Department of Mental Health, Phyllis and John Hangman from Friends of the Rialto K-9’s, Joe Britt Park and Rec commissioner, Andy Carzales Rialto Beatification Commission. As well as Captain Randy Deanda and Chief Farrar from Rialto PD & two raido personalities from Q104.7 were doing a live remote in the parking lot and decided to join us.
Chief Farrar began by thanking everyone for coming. He then began talking about the extreme success of Rialto’s National Night Out event on August sixth. Chief Farrar stated they had just over five thousand people come out to this years event two thousand more than last year. He commented on how well the event went and that it was the best National Night Out event the city or county had ever put on. He said there was room for improvement but that overall the event was top notch. The highlight was for the people who hung around to see the police helicopter lift off from the event. Chief Farrar asked the people in attendance what they thought could be improved for next years event.
The next topic of conversation were the upcoming Area Command meetings. These meetings offer the community, city and police department a opportunity to connect and dialogue. Various city departments come out and give you the information you need to easily live here in the city. For info on the meeting dates, times and locations just look for the link on the right hand side of our page.
The topic of the AB 109 Early Release program came up due to the courts ordering Governor Brown to release another ten thousand inmates. Chief Farrar told the community that Rialto PD has been working to stay one step ahead of the criminals. These ways include an full time probation officer that works at Rialto PD, using electronic advances to track criminals, applying for more grants and working with other local agencies.
The last topic spoke to who our Police Chief really is it spoke to his heart. Chief Farrar spoke about a strong passion to reach our youth. Not just the good kids that have normal nuclear families that don’t have negative contact with the police but all youth especially the under privileged youth that shy away from telling police officials their true fears and concerns. This desire chief Farrar has isn’t a fishing expedition to lock up more criminals but a true heart felt desire to show the entire community that his department truly cares. What was awesome is everyone there bought right in and began talking out the idea of how to involve our youth. This is where Annette Pulido the promotions person from Q104.7 spoke up and offered to assist the city and police department with this and other outreach opportunities.
One thing that is missing is a constant presence by School District Official. Every single meeting there are constant questions about our children’s safety. This is just an observation by me but it seems Rialto Unified really doesn’t care how we feel about school safety or our children’s safety. It is sad because Edgar Montes has attended a few times but beyond that nobody. Rialto Unified has a School Safety Department and their office can’t send down one official to listen and log the long list of issues the community has with school safety.
Here is what else is awesome when I brought up the response some of our readers had to the time of the meetings and how morning meeting during the week excludes a portion of the community. Chief Farrar said lets make it happen so all you that commented on the time of the meetings here you go.
There is a lot going on in Rialto and everyone is working hard towards making this a community to be proud of. But it takes everyone working towards the same goal. So ask yourself what are you doing to help make this city a better place and can you do more?
Coffee with the Chief is this coming Tuesday at Coffee Nutz. Come out and hear what our police have been up to, ask questions from Rialto’s Top Cops as well as meet other people in the community committed to safety for everyone.
From the Murder of a Father in Flores Park to a Family shooting at Trapp Elementary School
Chief Farrar normally is joined by other members of the command staff.
With the recent major crimes that have accorded in our city it is important to show up and take advantage of this opportunity. Bring the kids and enjoy coffee & information coloring books and comic books supplied by IEHP will be available to keep the little ones busy.
Coffee Nutz is located on Foothill just East of Riverside Ave. Owner Andy Carzaeles is a strong community advocate and supports a strong line of communication between the community and police. Andy opens up his restaurant and offers excellent service from his friendly staff.
Come out and get informed. Bring the kids we will have FREE goodies to keep them busy.
rialtonow 