Seatbelt and Headset Checks By Nanuet Students

December is National Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention Month. With the holiday celebrations coming up, there's a higher rate of drinking and drug use. To help lessen this rate, the students involved with two Nanuet HS groups are going to be doing seatbelt and headset checks today after school.

"The students for SADD and VAASA are going to stand outside (for these car checks)," said Marie Bogdanowich, advisor for both groups.

VAASA is Varsity Athletes Against Substance Abuse and SADD is Students Against Destructive Decisions. The students are going to check for seatbelts and for cell phone Bluetooth headsets.

"If they have on a seatbelt or headset or are not on the phone, they get a Smarties (candy) and if they don't, they get a Dum Dum Lollipop," said Bogdanowich.

Everyone will also get a candy cane in the spirit of Christmas with a special message tied to it. The students came up with alcohol and drug facts to attach to these candy canes as a further reminder to be safe during the holidays.

Bogdanowich also added suicide hotline tips to the batch because it's also a concern during the holidays.

"This is a season where suicide increases. We wanted to touch on holiday blues and there's a lot of people that do not enjoy the holidays because they're stressed," she said."

VAASA and SADD students as well as other Nanuet HS students wrote their names on snowballs as a pledge to be drug and alcohol free for the holidays. The two groups also came up with holiday reminders to put up around the school on how to stay safe.