Mattoon doing its part to halt drugs

One local organization is taking the necessary steps to help eliminate drugs in Mattoon.

The village of Mattoon recently established the Mattoon Area Drug Awareness Task Force and the group sponsored a drug awareness program on Nov. 14. Various village leaders are involved with the task force, including Shepherd’s Watch President Wade Reimer, Vice President Laurel Collins, Mattoon Village Board Chairman Jim Zahn, Mattoon Village Superintendent Zak Kickhaver and community member Bill Stevens, who was appointed chairman of the task force.

“Concerned leaders and residents were becoming more and more aware of a drug problem existing in Mattoon, the township of Hutchins, as well as surrounding areas, and it has been getting worse over time,” said Collins, on why a drug task force is needed for the village.

Collins said that the idea for the task force came up when Reimer found drug paraphernalia on the grounds of Shepherd’s Watch.

“This incident had made it quite apparent that our children and teens were clearly in harm’s way,” said Collins.

When the task force was formed, Collins said that there was couple of goals that they wanted to meet. The first was talking to the village board and purchasing three large black and yellow signs to be displayed in the village that read — If you see something, say something. The second goal was to host a drug awareness meeting for the public that featured two members of the Shawano County Sheriff’s Department, Drug Detective Craig Rekoske and Lt. Eric Chernetski, as well as Langlade County Crime Stoppers President Rhonda Drexler.

“Our request to Craig and Eric was to focus on educating the community on ways to recognizing drug use, how to report it and how we as citizens can help,” said Collins. “During the presentation, Craig (Rekoske) stated that drugs are increasingly becoming a problem across the state in large and small cities, as well as villages and townships.”

The final goal for the drug task force is to continue to keep citizens educated and informed, in hopes that they can help to save lives from drug use.

“It isn’t only the lives of drug users at risk, but the lives of our precious teens and children are at stake here also, which is completely unacceptable,” said Collins.

When identifying someone who may be on drugs, Collins relayed Rekoske’s message that drug users like to blend in with crowds.

“A few things to look for are any odd or unusual activities such as people stopping by a location and entering, but only staying for a short time of day,” said Collins. “Any drug paraphernalia lying around such as used needles, sturdy plastic bottles with any unusual substances remaining in them, small spoons, tin foil, cut-up drinking straws, pipes and pill bottles are more of the common items to look for.”

Collins said that drug use is becoming an issue in the village, due to how easy it can be to find the drugs.

“Craig (Rekoske) shared that because drugs are now pouring in over the border, they’re readily available for distribution in and out of the larger cities to all points north, south, east and west,” said Collins. “Because of this, drugs are now easier and cheaper to obtain for both distributors and buyers.”

She pointed to fentanyl as the most glaring drug, but also mentioned meth and other opioids as areas for concern.

“According to Mr. Rekoske, fentanyl is the drug of greatest concern,” said Collins. “That is because only two milligrams of this substance is a fatal dose — which is like three grains of table sugar. In pill form fentanyl looks like a prescription medication and when mixed with other drugs is undetectable.”

lreimer@newmedia-wi.com