Awards Presented at NADAA Banquet

Written by Nemaha County Herald

Nemaha Against Drug & Alcohol Abuse (NADAA) Coalition held its fourth annual Winter Banquet January 9 at the 4-H Building in Auburn.

NADAA Director Laura Osborne welcomed attendees noting that coalition members are together in the battle against substance abuse, and for that reason, the committee worked with a battleship theme for this year’s banquet.Banquet decor included displays focusing on the coalition’s areas of work, referred to for the evening as “battle stations”, and included art from World War II posters. Flags, anchors and other patriotic decor were used to highlight the evening’s theme. This year, NADAA’s Executive Board voted to purchase perpetual plaques for the coalition’s awards which will be displayed at the Nemaha County Courthouse. These plaques will have award descriptions at the top and name plates listing the award winners for each year.

This Year’s Awards RecipientsThe year’s awards were presented as follows:

Youth Leadership in School District 29 — Brandon Petet. Brandon logged over 185 hours of volunteer time with NADAA in 2009, an amount higher than any other youth in the coalition. He is currently the President of Auburn High School chapter of NADAA’s Youth Against Drugs and Alcohol (YADA) Task Force.

Youth Leadership in School District 23 — Chelsey Mowen. Chelsey has shown growth in her leadership skills in battling substance abuse amongst her peers and is currently serving as the President of the Johnson-Brock High School chapter of NADAA’s YADA Task Force.

Partner in Prevention — Dale and Maxine Schatz. Mr. and Mrs. Schatz have volunteered their time, talent and food service equipment to the coalition’s events and activities on a number of occasions helping to further the goals of NADAA Coalition through volunteer efforts.

President’s Award — Region V Systems. Region V Systems staff members Sandy Morrissey and Amy Reynoldson have provided technical assistance to NADAA Coalition literally since its beginning. They have assisted the coalition’s volunteers and staff whenever requested with materials, technical assistance and information, making them a key component to the success the coalition has achieved to date.

Meritorious Service — Auburn Optimists Club. The Optimists have been extremely supportive of the coalition, especially the YADA Task Force. They have helped staff a youth dance and the Red Ribbon Family Festival, and they helped NADAA purchase equipment for their work with youth. They worked with NADAA to create a new partnership which allowed YADA members to work in the annual Optimists’ fireworks stand to earn funds for their projects. This partnership allowed youth an opportunity to learn skills such as counting money and salesmanship, while working alongside adults who made it clear by their actions that they truly care about the youth of Nemaha County.

Honorable Mention Certificates Johnson-Brock student Scott Riley as well as Auburn High School students Laura Teten and Brent Comstock were all recognized with Honorable Mention certificates having been nominated for the youth awards. The youth awards were presented by Kayleigh Baker, NADAA’s Youth Coordinator.

Fulton Keynote Speaker

The keynote address was given by State Senator Tony Fulton. Fulton is an Auburn High School graduate who currently lives and works in Lincoln, where he is serving in the Nebraska Unicameral. Fulton spoke about legislation that he recently championed to require ignition interlock use by convicted DUI [Driving Under the Influence] offenders. He described how the ignition interlock system works in a vehicle to prevent someone whose been convicted of DUI from being able to start their vehicle if they have too high of an alcohol concentration level in their breath.Fulton related the story of a little girl and her father, Kaniyah and Joseph Richardson, who were walking to a McDonald’s restaurant in Chicago near their home on a warm spring evening in 2008. During their walk, a convicted repeat drunk driver whose license had been suspended was once again driving under the influence, lost control of the vehicle, and crashed into the little girl’s father killing him. Fulton said that as the father of a little girl himself, he was compelled by this story to take action to prevent convicted DUI offenders from continuing to re-offend. Fulton also noted that ignition interlock legislation came into the spotlight when Nebraskans Larry and Rita Bellar and Edward and Alice Ramaekers were killed by a repeat offender drunk driver in New Mexico. The vehicle in which those Nebraska couples were travelling that day was displayed by NADAA at the 2009 Nemaha County Fair parades. Fulton explained that the ignition interlock system is one more weapon available for use in the battle against substance abuse.

Others Recognized at NADAA’s Winter Banquet were volunteers who have contributed over 100 hours to NADAA in 2009 including Mary-Jo Parker, Susan Kruse, Josh Osborne and Brandon Petet.The coalition also took time to recognize two individuals who have completed terms of service on the NADAA Executive Board. Jackie Kelsay and Kay Oestmann received certificates of appreciation for their dedicated service.

These current Executive Board members were introduced: Monty Lovelace—chairman, Bob Cole, Brent Lottman, Susan Kruse, Carie Allen, Paul Lillenas and Holly Riley.The meal, prepared by Jackie Gfeller and Maxine Schatz, was supported by Pelican’s Meat Processing, Sun Mart, Glenn’s Corner Market and Sonic. The banquet included a slide show of 2009 coalition activities and events in photos. Banquet planning was conducted by Jackie Gfeller, Carie Allen, Laura Teten, Kayleigh Baker, Laura Osborne and Ashleigh Boeve — NADAA’s Office Clerk.

Next Meeting on Jan. 19

Osborne concluded the evening by reminding everyone that the next coalition meeting was set for Tuesday, January 19th, 4 pm at Auburn High School. More information about NADAA can be found by clicking www.nadaaonline.org.