We Remember, Inc.

Operation Hands
Event 6/16/01

Time to lend a hand
A man wants to create the world's largest letter - with handprints - asking officials to address substance abuse.
By JAMIE MALERNEE
© St. Petersburg Times,
published June 16, 2001

Vernon Waldron wants local residents to dirty their hands in the fight against underage drinking and drunken driving.
Starting today, the father of two daughters killed by a drunken driver will be waiting with tubs of paint and white paper sheets at the Spring Hill YMCA teen center off Deltona Boulevard.
His request: that people help him create the world's largest signed letter asking government officials to address substance abuse and related problems. And when Waldron says he wants people to "sign" the letter, he really means he wants people to leave their handprint on it in bright, wet paint.
"We've got red, green, yellow and blue," he said. "If we can get everyone to concentrate on this issue, the solution to the problem would come a lot faster."
The letter is part of a nationwide effort and will be addressed to California Gov. Gray Davis. It asks that Davis organize a state task force to develop standards that address the problem of underage substance abuse -- and then encourage other governors to do the same.
Waldron tried to do something similar with Gov. Jeb Bush a few years ago, but it didn't work, he said. So he's hoping Davis will be more open to the issue and able to sway others because of the power and size of his state.
"If we walk into the capitol with 4,000 signatures, he's got to take notice. Those signatures are votes," Waldron said.
In Hernando County alone, Waldron hopes to collect 4,000 handprints by the end of July. In California, activists say they already have amassed 30,000. Organizations in other states and Canada are also working to up that number.
"We want to wrap the state capitol in these sheets," said Sandy Golden, president of Alcohol Free Kids in California.

No one has ever tried to create the largest signed letter in the world. Because of that, officials with the Guiness Book of World Records say to make it in the book, Waldron and Golden simply have to document their efforts, Waldron said.
Meanwhile, both men hope the attention brought to their letter campaign helps educate people about the problem and possible solutions. The problem, according to Golden, is that many good programs exist -- but only a smattering of communities know about them.
For example, he said that some cities have Operation Shoulder Tap, a sting operation where children are recruited to ask adults outside liquor stores to buy them alcohol. If the adult does, the police bust the person.
Other areas track beer kegs with registration numbers. That way, if a keg turns up at an underage party, police can follow a paperwork trail back to the person who bought it -- and they face charges.
Some counties require people who sell tobacco products to have a permit. Vendors who are caught selling to minors more than once lose their permit.
Certain treatment programs are required to meet specific standards of care and followup with patients to prevent relapse.
Those are just some of the ideas that Waldron says could be implemented here.
Both men want to see such programs put together on a "road map" of solutions and standards in the fight against substance abuse. That list can then be sent to local communities, which can then decide what portions they want to implement.
"The (alcohol and tobacco) industries are too strong for us to fight on the federal level or even the state level," Golden said.
"Look where the contributions are going. That's why we have to do this city by city. That's where people still have the power."

On July 1, he will speak at Christ Lutheran Church, 475 North Ave. W in Brooksville, at both the 8:30 and 11 a.m. services. On July 20 and 21, he will collect more handprints in front of the Wal-Mart Supercenter on State Road 50.
If you go
Vernon Waldron will be collecting handprints at the Spring Hill YMCA teen center off Deltona Boulevard from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. today and Monday. For information, call We Remember Inc. at 596-4465.

For more information:
We Remember, Inc.
P.O. Box 10126
Brooksville, FL 34603-0126 US
1-888-588-4525