Mark Souder: “I met earlier today with Michael Larrance from Hamilton High School in my district who is out here for the conference.…”

“I met earlier today with Michael Larrance from Hamilton High School in my district who is out here for the conference. He has formed a group at his high school of students who are committed not only to trying to combat alcohol abuse but also drug abuse, teen pregnancy and other issues and the need to stress abstinence in these areas. I worked recently to put together a play that he has taken to other schools, too, to try to address this. I think it is very important that we encourage efforts among the students themselves to combat this. Having a son 17 who is a junior in high school and a daughter who is 19, I am very concerned when they have hit prom season and a lot of the spring seasons and the various trips that they go on, about what they and their friends, and you always worry about who they are riding with, not only their behavior. But the zero tolerance type of policies a lot of schools are putting in, efforts of police forces to crack down on this, is not only good for our kids but for the rest of us.”