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Tuesday, March 4th, 2008 Nipigon-Red Rock Gazette Page 9 St. Hilary Hosts a Valentine Tea On February 14th, St. Hilary School Council, students and staff were very proud to host a Valentine Tea for Grandparents and Seniors. The extreme cold weather did not discourage visitors. The gym was filled with friends and families of all ages enjoying an afternoon of sharing and entertainment. The students were most excited by our special visitors who joined us from the Nipigon District Memorial Hospital. The afternoon began with socializing, sandwiches, desserts, tea and coffee and continued with various presentations by the students. JK/SK and 1/2 presented three poems “The Love Bug”, “Love is a Circle” and “5 Little Valentines.” The Grade 4 class entertained us with their version of the 1961 song “I Don’t Know Why I Love You, But I Do.” Grade 5/6 shared Valentine’s Day slide shows they created using their individual MAC laptops, all while the Grade 7/8 students served refreshments. St. Hilary staff and students are grateful for all our visitors and the families who donated their time and food, the School Council and Roland Choiselat who donated prizes. Each of you are the reason for the success of the Valentine Tea. We are looking forward to seeing everyone next year! Students entertained their guests with poems and songs, and were thrilled with their special guests from the Nipigon District Memorial Hospital. Photos submitted We would love to hear from our readers... Send your Letters to the Editor to: Nipigon-Red Rock Gazette Box 1057 Nipigon, ON POT 2J0. Or fax us at 887-3720 better yet, e-mail us at nipigongazette@shaw.ca Please include your name and phone number for verification purposes. Latest Drug in Middle School- “Dusting” First, I’m going to tell you a little about me and my family. My name is Jeff. I am a Police Officer for a city which is known nationwide for it’s crime rate. We have a lot of gangs and drugs. At one point we were #2 in the nation in homicides per capita. I also have a police K-9 named Thor. He was certified in drugs and general duty. He retired at 3 years old because he was shot in the line of duty. He lives with us now and I still train with him because he likes it. I always liked the fact that there was no way to bring drugs into my house. Thor wouldn’t allow it. He would tell on you. the reason I say this is so you understand that I know about drugs. I have taught in schools about drugs. My wife asks all our kids at least once a week if they used any drugs. I like building computers occasionally and started building a new one in February 2005. I also was working on some of my older computers. They were so full of dust so on one of my trips to the computer store I bought a 3 pack of DUST OFF. Dust Off is a can of compressed air to blow dust off a computer. A few weeks later when I went to use one of them they were all used. I talked to my kids and my two sons both said they had used them on their computer and messing around with them. I yelled at them for wasting the 10 dollars I paid for them. On February 28th, I went back to the computer store. They didn’t have the 3 pack which I had bought on sale so I bought a single jumbo can of Dust Off. I went home and set it down beside my computer. On March 1st, I left for work at 10 p.m. Just before midnight my wife went down and kissed Kyle goodnight. At 5:30 a.m. the next morning, Kathy went downstairs to wake Kyle up for school before she left for work. He was propped up in bed with his legs crossed and his head leaning over. She called to him a few times to get up. He didn’t move. He would sometimes tease her like this and pretend he fell back asleep. He was never easy to get up. She went in and shook his arm. He fell over. He was pale white and had the straw from the Dust Off can coming out of his mouth. He had the new can of Dust Off in his hands. Kyle was dead. I am a police officer and I had never heard of this. My wife is a nurse and she had never heard of this. We later found out from the coroner, after the autopsy, that only the propellant from the can of Dust Off was in his system. No other drugs. Kyle had died between midnight and 1 a.m. I found out that using Dust Off is being done mostly by kids ages 9 through 15. They even have a name for it. It’s call ‘dusting’. A take off from the Dust Off name. It gives them a slight high for about 10 seconds. It makes them dizzy. A boy who lives down the street from us showed Kyle how to do this about a month before. Kyle showed his best friend. Told him it was cool and it couldn’t hurt you. It’s just compressed air. It can’t hurt you. His best friend said so. Kyle was wrong. It’s not just compressed air. It also contains a propellant called R2. It’s a refrigerant like what is used in your refrigerator. It is a heavy gas. Heavier than air. When you inhale it, it fills your lungs and keeps the good air, with oxygen, out. That’s why you feel dizzy, buzzed. It decreases the oxygen to your brain, to your heart. IT KILLS YOU. The horrible part about this is there is no warning. There is no level that kills you. It’s not cumulative or an overdose; it can just go randomly, terribly wrong. IT’S NOT AN OVERDOSE. You don’t die later. Or not feel good and say I’ve had too much. You usually die as you’re breathing it in. If not, you die within 2 seconds of finishing “the hit”. That’s why the straw was still in Kyle’s mouth when he died. Why his eyes were still open. The experts want to call this ‘huffing’ The kids don’t believe it’s huffing. And that’s why it’s more accepted. There is no chemical reaction, no strong odor. It doesn’t follow the huffing signals. Kyle complained a few days before he died of his tongue hurting. It probably did. The propellant causes frostbite. If I had only known. It’s easy to say hey, it’s my life and I’ll do what I want. But it isn’t. Others are always affected. This has forever changed our family’s life. I have a hole in my heart and soul that can never be fixed. The pain is so immense I can’t describe it. There’s nowhere to run from it. I cry all the time and I don’t ever cry. I do what I’m supposed to do but I don’t really care. My kids are messed up. One won’t Continued on Page 12