NEW YOUTH STATE REP FOR D.A.R.E. - Emily Sledd, daughter of Hart and Patty Sledd, has been selected as Kentucky’s  representative for the D.A.R.E. Youth Advisory Board.  She will attend local D.A.R.E. graduations, classes and the state D.A.R.E. convention.  Emily  is a student at Bourbon County Middle School and is active in various school activities including peer leaders, the middle school play and the marching band.  This year millions of school children around the world will benefit from D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education), the highly acclaimed program that gives kids the skills they need to avoid involvement in drugs, gangs and violence.  D.A.R.E. was founded in 1983 in Los Angeles and has proven so successful that it is now being implemented in 75 percent of our nations’ school districts and in more than 43 countries around the world.  Over the course of the past three years, well over 220 communities have started new D.A.R.E programs.  D.A.R.E. is a police officer-led series of classroom lessons that teaches children from kindergarten through 12th grade how to resist peer pressure and live productive drug and violence-free lives.