Subrizi Chosen DARE Mayor of the Year

Nicholas DeMaura, chairman and CEO of New Jersey's Drug Abuse Resistance Education program, selected New Miilford Mayor Ann Subrizi for its prestigious Mayor of the Year award.

DARE is a series of classroom lessons about drug abuse prevention taught to school children. The instructors are local police officers required to undergo 80 hours of special training in areas such as child development, classroom management, teaching techniques, and communication skills.

In her speech, Subrizi informed the audience that New Milford launched the DARE program. James Rittgers, New Milford's police chief from 1988 until 1991, instituted New Jersey's first DARE program in New Milford. According to current Police Chief Frank Papapietro, Rittgers's insight in recognizing the value of bringing police officers into the school system to teach children about the effects of drug and alcohol use attributed to DARE's national success.

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