Drug abuse takes center stage at town meeting

    PRESQUE ISLE, Maine – Drug abuse will take center stage, literally, as part of the Star City Town Meeting: Community Action Against Drug Abuse, scheduled to take place May 8 at 7 p.m. at the Presque Isle Middle School.
The issue of drug abuse is growing and with it the rate of other crimes, such as burglary and theft, as those abusing drugs seek out medications to take or property to steal to later sell to pay for drugs.
    “This is a drug abuse meeting – an opportunity for the community to get together and share ideas on how to address the problem,” said Chief Naldo Gagnon, of the Presque Isle Police Department.
Gagnon said this is a cooperative effort on the part of a number of local agencies.
“I want the public to know how all the agencies work together to educate the public on how they can use those entities to make their situations better,” said Gagnon.
This is not a meeting planned in haste. It is an idea that city officials and various agencies have been considering for quite some time.
“City Manager Tom Stevens was directed by City Council to set something like this up,” said Gagnon.
That process began over a year ago.
“We actually started well over a year ago,  with something Dave Peterson, CEO of TAMC, was working on. It didn’t materialize there, so I asked Dave if we could pick the idea up as a project. It went from there,” said Stevens.
The idea has evolved into a six-entity partnership.
“ACAP, AMHC, the city of Presque Isle, SAD 1, TAMC and local clergy are involved,” said Stevens.
Stevens said he called a meeting of the parties whom he indicated were “very energetic to attend” and worked very hard on the project.
“It (the idea) was developed over the last couple months to a broader focus of: prevention, treatment and law enforcement on drug abuse,” said Stevens.
Stevens indicated along the way the group acquired the services of Mike Bosse, of MAP, for marketing, advertising and planning.
“Mike’s been very helpful in providing focus for the event and media coverage promoting the event,” said Stevens.
Although the event is being held at the middle school, Stevens said that there is no specific connection to the school system.
“There’s no real connection with the middle school. The school just provides a great venue to hold the event. SAD 1 is equal partners in this. This is much broader than a school issue, it reaches out to the broader fabric of society – the whole community,” said Stevens.
The event begins at 7 p.m. and is broken into two parts.
“From 7-8 p.m., we will have three presenters discussing the prevention/treatment aspects, followed by law enforcement. From 8-9:30 p.m., we’ll have seven panelists responding to questions and answers from the audience,” said Stevens.
Questions will be collected from audience members upon arrival to the event, with panelists answering questions later in the evening.
“Steve Richard will be the facilitator. Det. Sgt. Wayne Selfridge, of the PIPD, will do a presentation. Holly Johnson, SAD 1 school health coordinator, will do a presentation. And Peter McCorrison, of AMHC, will be a presenter,” said Stevens.
Panelists for the evening include: Carol Bell, project manager for Partnership for a Healthy Community; McCorrison; Gagnon; Rev. Dave Williams, pastor of Grant Memorial United Methodist Church; Ann Blanchard, principal of PIMS; Eric Waddell, principal of Presque Isle High School; and Dr. Jay Reynolds, vice president of medical affairs at TAMC.
Steering Committee members for the event include: Stevens; Richard; Gagnon; Selfridge; Joy Barresi-Saucier, of TAMC; Blanchard; Waddell; Johnson; Bosse; McCorrison; Reynolds; Tim McCue, school safety advisor for SAD 1; Bell; Peterson; Gehrig Johnson, superintendent of SAD 1; and Williams.
Following the event, Stevens indicated anyone interested in taking part in future sessions can do so in various ways.
“At the end, if a person would like to be a part of a followup focus group – a ‘where do we go from here’ discussion group – they can provide us with their contact information. The Committee will meet a week later to determine where to go from there,” said Stevens.
For more information, contact Stevens at 764-4485.