Greene residents march against drugs
WAYNESBURG — More than 500 people didn’t let a cold steady rain dampen their resolve Saturday as they walked nearly a mile from the Greene County Airport to the county fairgrounds, carrying signs and chanting, “Greene County has had enough.”
Many of those who participated in the “March for Greene,” a rally against drugs, displayed signs indicating they had lost loved ones to the scourge of heroin and opiate addiction that has torn families apart and continues to do so at an alarming rate.
Once the march concluded, the crowd gathered in the 4-H show barn at the county fairgrounds to listen to speakers engage them in personal testimonials designed to bring awareness, education and hope and prayer to those in recovery and to families dealing with the loss of loved ones.
The tenor of the rally took on a revival atmosphere of sorts, and even state Sen. Camera Bartolotta capitalized on that aspect when she referred to marching in the rain as a “baptism.”
And one of the first marchers to turn into the fairgrounds off Route 21 carried a sign that read: “Heroin enslaves; Jesus saves.”
The Rev. Richard Berkey of the Rolling Meadows Church of God, chairman of the event, said he thought the turnout was great, considering the weather, he and emphasized this was “just the springboard of where we are heading. We want to let people know we are together on this and that we have had enough in Greene County about drugs and we are moving forward for a drug-free county,” he said.
He said everything works through the church and that is what is going to make the difference. “God can heal and restore,” he said.
One of the speakers, the Rev. Eric Johnson, pastor of the Jerusalem Baptist Church in Duquesne, said before he was a preacher, he was (drug) user.
For 27 years, Johnson has been with the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections. He said if you want to help those addicted, start with pain killers because “they kill more people than heroin and cocaine combined,” he said.
Johnson was a high school all-star football player for Clairton High School and is now the defensive line coach at Uniontown Area High School.
Also speaking was Gary Tennis, secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs.
He said one out of four families suffer in silence and shame. “We have to let go of judgment and stigma,” he said. “Addiction is a disease.”
Tennis said four out of five heroin users started with taking opioids. “Don’t keep pain killers in your medicine cabinets,” he said. “When you are finished with them, take unused pills to Drug Take Back boxes that some municipalities and police departments offer,” he said.
State Rep. Pam Snyder, D-Jefferson, concluded the program by emphasizing three things: awareness, education and prayer. “We need to be aware of what is happening in our own families and to other people we care deeply about,” she said.
“We need to educate our young people about the dangers of drugs. “It used to be the liquor cabinets were locked. Now it’s time we locked our medicine cabinets,” she said.
And finally, she said, “We need to pay to God this goes away.”
At the conclusion of the program, balloons were released outside. Black balloons represented those lives that have been lost to drugs; pink and blue balloons represented babies born addicted to drugs; and white balloons represented hope.