The Catskill Chronicle

Students from Livingston Manor line up for the start of the DARE parade in Jeffersonville Wednesday night. – Provided photo.

MONTICELLO – The Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office in conjunction with The New York State DARE Officers Association hosted the 2009 School Safety and DARE Conference this week at the Villa Roma Resort.

DARE and School Resource Officers from around the state converged on Callicoon this past Sunday, October 18, for five days of seminars and training on youth and school related topics. This year’s conference was expanded to allow educators and school administrators to attend.

The week’s activities culminated Wednesday night with a DARE parade in the Village of Jeffersonville.

Leading the parade was Miss New York 2009, Alyse Zwick. Following, were police cars from as far away as Auburn, Herkimer, Scotia, and Cayuga County. They were escorted by DARE students from local schools who marched down main street just after 7:00 PM. The hit of the parade was a Toyota Celica confiscated from a drug dealer and turned into a DARE car by the Syracuse Police Department. The car featured ground effects lighting, subwoofer speakers and a 27 inch flat screen TV in the hatchback.

Sheriff Mike Schiff thanked Mayor Ed Justus, the Village of Jeffersonville , and the Jeffersonville Fire Department for their enthusiastic support of the DARE parade.