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By DAKOTAH M. DAVIS
Winfield Publishing

Ninety percent of Cowley County residents who filled out a survey asking them their community-minded goals for the future say local government should be focusing on drug and alcohol abuse prevention, but agencies charged with corrections duties say they are strapped for cash and have no dollars to put towards prevention measures.

"Our money's all tied up in treatment," said Nancy Owens, substance abuse treatment coordinator for Cowley County Mental Health and Counseling Center. "We get (substance abusers) after they've already been using."

The center offers a variety of programs to the public, including life skills training that can improve the quality of life for people at their jobs, homes or schools. Children, married couples and those suffering from substance abuse can also benefit from the services the group provides.

According to Melody Pappan, director of Cowley County Youth Services, prevention programs would be great, but at the moment, they're out of the question for her agency, too.

"We don't even have enough funding to pay for our core state-required programs," Pappan said.

What Pappan is seeing in the world of substance abuse is particularly disturbing, since her organization works with kids and young adults, ages 12 to 23. A majority of her clients, about 75 percent, "have some type of drug or alcohol tendency," she said.

Youth services operates a truancy program that works to keep kids in school. They also take care of juveniles charged with crimes by local police and offer probation services.

Pappan has been successful in the past in getting state grants to cover mandated programs such as juvenile intake. But most grants, like the one youth services used for this year's program, don't have a habit of sticking around. Recently Pappan warned county commissioners it's unlikely youth services will get the $58,000 they need to fund the juvenile intake program in 2006.

During that county commission meeting, Pappan was flanked by local police chiefs Jerry Devore of Winfield and Dan Givens of Arkansas City. The three were emphatic when they asked for an extra $40,000 to help fund next year's program.

"We need this service in Arkansas City," Givens told commissioners. "This is clearly one of the best organizations ... we use them on a daily basis."

Devore called juvenile intake "a godsend" and said youth services can "shape (troubled) kids into productive citizens now."

Commissioners agreed that catching problem kids early before they turn into adult offenders is a good idea, but they made no promises about injecting youth services' skimpy budget with more dollars.

The lack of financial support for prevention programs is showing up in other areas, too, Pappan said. The group is seeing a rise in the number of local sex offender cases. These are kids -- not adults -- who have likely been abused and are now molesting kids younger than themselves, sometimes babies. In 2000 the county had zero sex offender cases among its youth. Now it has six.

"It's more common than you think," said Pappan. "My guess is because victims of sex offense become offenders, and the more that happens, the longer the chain of offenders you will have until that chain is broken."

A part of breaking the chain of abuse, whether it be of a sexual nature or drug and alcohol, said mental health's Owens, is getting people to change their attitudes about abuse. She said people here are living in denial, saying, "It can't be my kid; it can't be my family," and for that reason they don't get help.

But drugs like methamphetamines, which can be easily cooked up in the average household kitchen, are being used by people you'd never suspect have a drug problem. Women and teens especially like the drug, Owens said, because it gives them enormous energy and makes them lose weight.

"You probably see people around during the day who are getting a lot done and look great, and they're probably on meth," Owens said.

The lack of funding for prevention programs is a statewide problem. The federal government pulled all prevention funding from Kansas when inspections showed too many kids were being sold tobacco products, said Owens.

"If you can't pass that test, then they cut your money back," she said.

With the state yanking more and more of its funding every year and local citizens unwilling to see their taxes raised to pay for prevention programs -- the same majority who said Cowley County needs prevention did not support any new funding initiatives -- local agencies are left without the tools they need to combat what they say is a growing problem.

But if the county's taxpayers aren't willing to pay for treatment programs, perhaps they'll be willing to start some voluntarily, such as the 12-step program, Alcoholics Anonymous. Both Pappan and Owens say the programs work.

"(AA) has helped more people across the world than anything else that's ever been used," said Owens. "I'm a strong supporter of it."

AA has a bevy of programs that fall under its drug and alcohol abuse recovery umbrella: Narcotics Anonymous, which works with drug abusers; Al-Anon, a program for family members of substance abusers; and Alateen, for children of substance abusers.

While Winfield has an AA program and Ark City has both AA and NA, several programs are missing. Al-anon meetings are hit-and-miss, and it would be great if someone would start an Alateen program, said Pappan.

Best of all, the programs are run on a volunteer basis, usually by recovering addicts themselves. And they're cheap. Meeting rooms are often donated within the community, and participants give a mere $1 donation to attend.

But the programs need people who are willing to participate in their own recovery. That's where that attitude adjustment comes in.

"You've got to help people realize that it's not a negative thing to address this," said Owens. "There's such a stigma about it that people don't want to admit there is a problem."

Despite the grim outlook, Owens said, there is hope.

"(Drug and alcohol abuse) is a chronic, progressive, terminal illness, but you can put it in remission," she said. "You don't have to die a drunk or a drug addict."

What residents want:

*A majority of county residents -- 90 percent -- see drug and alcohol abuse prevention as the number one priority issue.

*A majority also supports investment in local home-grown businesses.

*89 percent believe there is a shortage of good jobs.

*88 percent see retaining young people as an important goal.

*84 percent agree public education should be strengthened.

*A significant majority (84 percent) wanted to improve the county's appearance by cleaning up unsightly properties, trash and junk, and 61 percent agreed that more attractive corridors into cities would improve the county's image.

*70-75 percent think there are too few restaurants and retail shops.

*70 percent believe tourist sites should be promoted.

*Two-thirds of respondents see the need for expanding recreation opportunities and support revitalizing downtown areas.

*Nearly two out of three residents believed that poverty in the county is a problem.

*About 56 percent wanted to give support to agri-tourism businesses.

*51 percent see a lack of affordable health care.

More survey results:

*1,011 residents returned surveys for a response rate of 25.3 percent.

*The majority of respondents were from Winfield and Arkansas City (38 and 34 percent); 20 percent live in a rural area outside of a city; the remaining 10 percent were from the county's smaller or unincorporated cities.

*More than three-fourths of respondents have lived in Cowley County for over 20 years.

*Women filled out 60 percent of the surveys.

*93 percent of respondents were Caucasian (white); seven percent were minorities.

*78 percent of respondents were age 45 or older; 21 percent were age 25-44; and just one percent were in the 18-24 age group.

*52 percent were employed full-time; 30 percent were retired; and the remaining 19 percent were part-time workers, homemakers, seeking employment, unemployed or students.

*People tended to support funding initiatives that would benefit their own lives. For instance, more county residents than city dwellers supported additional funds for improving rural roads.

*Participants under the age of 45 were more likely to support more recreational facilities for youth.

Complete survey results can be viewed via the Cowley First web site: www.cowleyfirst.com.

Above: Bringing more businesses to Cowley County, such as Creekstone shown above, is one of the greatest concerns people in the county, and in Arkansas City, have.