Anti-Drug Program Includes 4,000 Children at Rose Bowl

As First Lady Nancy Reagan receives 2,000 children in a “Walk Against Drugs” next Friday at the White House, more than 4,000 Pasadena area children will participate simultaneously in a walk against drug use at the Rose Bowl.

The Pasadena event, set to begin at 9:30 a.m., is part of a national “Just Say No” to drugs campaign for grade school age children under the sponsorship of Citizens for Drug Free Youth. The White House event, featuring Casey Ellison of NBC’s “Punky Brewster,” will be broadcast by radio at the Rose Bowl so that children across the country may join in the pledge to “Just Say No.”

At the Rose Bowl, the children will be entertained by a number of sports celebrities, Sgt. McGruff, the “take a bite out of crime dog” at the Pasadena Police Department, and Sgt. Aaron Williams and “Deputy Freddy” of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department who will present their “Nope to Dope, Ugh to Drugs” ventriloquist show. Then the children will release 5,000 “Just Say No” balloons donated by the Optimist Clubs of Pasadena.

School districts expected to participate include Pasadena, South Pasadena, Arcadia, San Gabriel, San Marino, La Canada, Alhambra and Glendale plus Pasadena area independent schools.

Events will conclude with a public evening program for parents, youth and school personnel at 7 p.m. at the Pasadena Center Exhibition Hall. Keynote speaker will be John Bradshaw, president of the Palmer Drug Abuse Program and host of the PBS series “Eight Stages of Man” and “Bradshaw on Family Systems.” Titled “Everyone Is Responsible . . . No One Is to Blame,” the program will explore the use of alcohol and chemicals in our society, the symptoms of alcoholism and addiction and the effects on the family.