FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

PR00-004

Contact:

Date:

Sergeant Clarence Huber

March 2, 2000

(404) 730-4148

G.R.E.A.T. Students To Be Honored At Hawks Basketball Game

Seventh grade students from Woodland Middle School will be honored Wednesday night, March 1st, during an Atlanta Hawks basketball game at Phillips Arena. Following their graduation from the Gang Resistance Education and Training (G.R.E.A.T.) program, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF), and the Atlanta Hawks have teamed up to recognize these students for nine (9) weeks of hard work and dedication.

More than two hundred (200) graduate students from G.R.E.A.T. are expected to attend the Wednesday night game between the Atlanta Hawks and the Washington Wizards. During a special "half time" event, sixteen (16) "top honor" students from Woodland Middle School will receive special recognition for their outstanding accomplishments in the (G.R.E.A.T.) program. The students will be accompanied by Fulton County Sheriff Jacquelyn H. Barrett.

The Fulton County Sheriff's Office has been teaching G.R.E.A.T. in area middle schools since 1994. This nationally recognized program has been helped to keep kids out of gangs in forty-eight (48) states. The G.R.E.A.T. program is taught by uniformed law enforcement officers.

The seventh grade class at Woodland is extremely excited about their graduation, and their special invitation to see the Hawks play at Phillips Arena. The staff from the Sheriff's Office "Community Relations Section" will accompany students to the game on Wednesday.

For more information, please contact Sergeant Clarence Huber at (404) 730-4148. Sergeant Huber can also be reached on his digital pager at (404) 833-8884.