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School emphasizes drug-free zone

By G. Michael Dobbs

Managing Editor



SPRINGFIELD The large circular sign on the wall of the Holyoke Chicopee Springfield Head Start now makes it official: be caught in a drug related crime 1,000 feet in any direction from the school's property line and face a two-year mandatory sentence.

City and state officials gathered on Wednesday morning to note the addition of the sign on Head Start's campus on Madison Avenue. The sign faces Central Street. The immediate neighborhood is the home of two schools as the MacDuffie School is across the street.

The Maple High Six Corner neighborhood is also home to the Elias Brookings School, the Milton Bradley School and the High School of Commerce.

Janis Santos, Head Start executive director, thanked City Councilor Bud Williams for his help in having the sign created and installed. She said it denotes the zero tolerance attitude Head Start officials have towards drug-related activities.

Springfield Police Deputy Chief Bill Cochrane said the drug-free zone law is a "useful tool" for law enforcement. As an officer who spent five years in the department's narcotics division, Cochran said the police "like to use every single tool we have against the bad guy."

State Senator Stephen Buoniconti (D-Springfield) said that while the sign is just a sign, "it takes a lot of community effort to put teeth into the sign."