Anti-Drug Coalition conducts meeting virtually via Zoom

On Oct. 29, the White County Anti-Drug Coalition held its first meeting since the COVID-19 pandemic reached the Middle Tennessee area, but just because the coalition had not been meeting doesn’t mean they have not been active and providing services for members of the community.

The coalition’s mission is to work strategically to eliminate the destructive effects of substance abuse and to create strength and resiliency in the youth of the community, and a pandemic hasn’t changed that focus or reduced those needs.

“We have taken care of several expenses within the community,” coalition chairperson Beth Kirby told the group that met electronically via Zoom. “We had a child that was in DCS [department of children’s services] custody that needed a blood pressure monitor, and we took care of that for them. We also had a parent that needed an eye exam in order to get their driver’s license so they could take care of their children.”

Additionally, Kirby said the coalition provided a toddler bed and mattress to a family as well as booster seats for another family. They also found and obtained a triple-single bed frame, a bunkbed with a trundle under the bottom bunk, for a family that didn’t have space for enough beds for all three of their boys so one child was having to sleep on the floor.

“These purchases came out of our CAB fund. That ‘Santa for All Seasons’ fund,” Kirby told the coalition members.

The Santa for All Seasons program is funded by community donations, both from local businesses as well as community members, and is used to purchase needs that are brought to the coalition’s attention. According to the group’s mission statement, the desire is to eliminate some of the barriers and inequalities that youth face that, if not resolved, could possibly lead them to turn to substance abuse in the future.

Another topic that was discussed during the meeting was the current level of domestic abuse and drug related cases faced by the city of Sparta’s police department.

“We are seeing a lot of domestic situations and drug related cases,” Police Chief Doug Goff told the coalition. “We have made several arrests and are getting a lot of intel on situations going on in the city.”

Goff went on to say that since school has been back in session, they are seeing more reports of abuse and drug related problems.

“There was probably a lot of crime that wasn’t being called in when people were housed up,” he said.

Goff said he doesn’t know that the drug use rate is up, just that it is being reported more now.

“We’ve been working with DCS and going into situations that they have,” Goff said.

Goff said he would encourage any community member with information about drug use to call in to either the city police department or the county sheriff’s office and report the activity.

“I think people are hesitant to call for fear of retaliation, but you can call in confidence [that your tip will be kept confidential] and say that there is activity going on at a place – the park, Walmart, parking lots, a home, whatever,” Goff said.  “[Through the calls] we can find where the hot spots are at and can increase patrol in those areas.”

Before the meeting adjourned, the members present made the decision to continue to meet electronically for the future as finding a centralized meeting room could be difficult given the current state of emergency, but that meeting and continuing to serve the needs of the community was deemed important.

Kirby expressed the importance of meeting regularly and indicated the group would talk soon about the Coldest Nights Shelter that had been put in place last year and what was being done to reopen the shelter for the upcoming winter.

“Especially through the holidays - making sure we are taking care of the needs in our community and with winter coming and homelessness increases,” she said.

Kirby said White County Anti-Drug Coalition has a lot of work ahead of them in the upcoming months and encouraged everyone to stay involved and stay vigilant.