First Lady Columba Bush Helps Launch New Educational Teen Television Show: "Choices"

State of FL - www.myflorida.com ^ | May 11, 2002 | State of FL

[summer]

First Lady Columba Bush Helps Launch New Educational Teen Television Show: "Choices"

PALM BEACH--First Lady Columba Bush and Florida's Office of Drug Control Director Jim McDonough hosted the launch of a new education teen television show "Choices" at Palm Beach Garden High School today.

The "Choices" program will follow the lives of a teen-age cast as they struggle through the turbulence and frustration of the teen-age years. The interactive series is being distributed to middle and senior high schools throughout Florida.

"I am so pleased to see this diverse group of young people participating in a show that will not only educate other teen-agers, but their parents as well," Mrs. Bush said. "Through examples on this show, I hope that these teens are able to help other young people make the right choices."

Since becoming Florida's First Lady, Mrs. Bush has traveled with Director McDonough throughout the state speaking with youth about the dangers of substance abuse. Two of her top priorities are to reduce substance abuse among Florida's youth and to get them involved in the arts. In collaboration with Arts for a Complete Education / Florida Alliance for Arts Education (ACE/FAAE), the First Lady visits at least two school art programs a month. She also awards 24 art scholarships for $1,000 each to students in visual arts, music, dance and theatre a year.

"The tremendous support that Mrs. Bush has shown to Florida youth will have a positive impact on their lives for years to come," Director McDonough said. "She is a real inspiration to the kids in our state."

The cast of "Choices" consists of an ensemble of members, each bringing diversity, strong opinions, and challenging circumstances to the content of the series. Each character is coming to terms with personal and social issues as they face the defiant, turbulent period known as adolescence. Through the "Choices" series, this cast of individuals will work together, helping each other to make the right "Choices" about the trials and tribulations of teen life.

The program explores situations affecting teens on a daily basis. Its premise is to open the lines of communication between family members. The show's producers worked with the Palm Beach County School Board to find teen-age writers who will relate to the show's demographics.

"We believe that teens are often misunderstood," Tawny Gaines, senior producer of "Choices" said. "This program will help teen-agers understand why the choices they make now shape their entire future."

The First Lady and Director McDonough were joined by the cast of "Choices," parents, students, faculty and staff of Palm Beach Garden High, Charles Stiles, partnership chairman and Nat Harrington of the Palm Beach County School District.

[summer]

I have to say I am really impressed with the type of projects FL's First Lady Columba Bush works on.

Television is such a powerful medium, and to show kids they can create their own television shows, and teach them, through such shows, the best choices they can make, is simply a wonderful way to empower kids. They can control and create media for themselves, sharing information, instead of being passive spectators.

For more information about Columba Bush's other projects, click here. And, if you would like to email her and share your thoughts, or simply tell her what a great job she is doing for FL, click here.

[summer]

For index.

[summer]

FYI. :)

[summer]

FYI. :)

[MeekOneGOP]

Teeny/Bush bump!

[summer]

:)!

[miamimark]

"Since becoming Florida's First Lady, Mrs. Bush has traveled with Director McDonough throughout the state speaking with youth about the dangers of substance abuse."

Pity-She should have stayed home a little more.

[summer]

Pity-She should have stayed home a little more.

Why? Her two oldest childen are adults and do not reside at home, and her youngest goes away to school. Why do you wish for her to be home alone?

[PhilDragoo]

"The tremendous support that Mrs. Bush has shown to Florida youth will have a positive impact on their lives for years to come," Director McDonough said. "She is a real inspiration to the kids in our state."

Columba Bump

[cake_crumb]

Wow, Columba Bush INTERACTIVE teen education BUMP!

[cake_crumb]

"Pity-She should have stayed home a little more."

Her daughter is an adult. Some kids never believe anything their parents tell them...until they are forced to learn from their own, heartbreaking mistakes in the school of hard knocks.

I have three adult children. I know.

You obviously have NO children and/or are still in the youthful "I know it all" phase.

Grow up.

[miamimark]

You can be a pure hypocrite or you can look at events honestly.

[cake_crumb]

Oh pardon me...

...welcome to FR.

Grow up.

[PhilDragoo]

miamimark . . . member since April 9th, 2002

[miamimark]

Her daughter is in rehab while she traipzes around the state preaching to teenagers & parents and you don't see this as being hypocrytical? Does she talk about her own daughter at these events?

[cake_crumb]

I apologize to anyone who suffers a multiple PING here.

FYI :- )

GREAT READ!

[PhilDragoo]

Oprah interviewed middle school students who told her thanks to ex-president Clinton oral sex was their pastime.

I like what Columba Bush is doing--being part of the solution.

[cake_crumb]

"Her daughter is in rehab while she traipzes around the state preaching to teenagers & parents and you don't see this as being hypocrytical?"

No. The teenager you save may not be one of your own, no matter how much you would like to save your own as well. It's a cold, hard fact of life that only experience and disillusionment can teach.

"Does she talk about her own daughter at these events?"

Why should she constantly drag her daughter through the mud in order to satisfy some primal, hateful need that the class-envying among us nurture in their twisted little souls? What would it accomplish except to justify the blind hate of the rabid left, who want nothing more than to see the Bush family completely destroyed?

Besides, Mrs Bush has people like you, dogging and drooling at the heels of all of her accomplishments, and draggind her daughter through the mud FOR her.

[cake_crumb]

"I like what Columba Bush is doing--being part of the solution."

Me too.

[miamimark]

You Bushbots are so hypocritical -Imagine if this was Hillary & Chelsea?

What's next? Columba giving seminars on Free Trade? (how not to pay duties on your Paris shopping spree)

Am watching Apocolypse now-More hypocrisy.

[cake_crumb]

"You Bushbots are so hypocritical"

Falling back on that so soon? Proof positive that you need to grow up.

" -Imagine if this was Hillary & Chelsea?"

No need. It's already happened. The stories were buried by the media, at the request of Bill and Hillary. Why is the same courtesy not extended to the Bush family?

[PhilDragoo]

Imagine if this were Bill and Roger.

Oh, no need to imagine.

Roger pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute cocaine and served a year in prison.

Bill pardoned him.

[GiovannaNicoletta]

Imagine if this was Hillary & Chelsea

You have to be out of your mind to bring that up. After what we've been told about how Hillary Clinton has spent her married life being kicked to the curb and disrespected by her husband who has spent his married life banging anything with a pulse, you would think that Hillary would tell her daughter to drop this college guy she's screwing (to whom she is not married) and stop being a slut like her father. Seeing as how Chelsea and her current "paramour" are still making time, I guess that means Hillary hasn't had any kind of talk with her daughter.

What, Chelsea's an adult? So are the Bush's children. Say, Hillary wouldn't happen to be a hypocrite, would she?

[cake_crumb]

"Roger pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute cocaine and served a year in prison.

Bill pardoned him"

ROFLOL...I was TRYING to be considerate to the new member!

[PhilDragoo]

As Webb Hubbell's father-in-law Seth Ward would say,

"There's horsepower and then there's horsesh*t."

Jeb Bush is horsepower.

And then there's Bill Clinton.

[cake_crumb]

"There's horsepower and then there's horsesh*t.

"Jeb Bush is horsepower.

"And then there's Bill Clinton."

Can't improve upon a perfect post. I'll BUMP to that!

[vikingchick]

bttt!

[GUIDO]

First off she shouldn't talk about her daughter at these events. That would be wrong and that would be invading her daughters privacy. Hopefully the daughter is getting the help she needs and when all is done will be willing to go out with her mother and speak from experience and help another not make the same mistakes. But who better to talk about the dangers and heartache drugs do than the mother of an abuser. This isn't hypocritical one bit. You need to get a grip.

[cake_crumb]

"You need to get a grip."

Miamimark needs to get off the canned rhetoric.

[floriduh voter]

A multiple ping is better than no ping at all and BTTT. I'll come back and read this tomorrow. Today's been so political for a Saturday around here, that I just want to check out e-bay. LOL

[cake_crumb]

"Today's been so political for a Saturday around here, that I just want to check out e-bay. LOL"

Ah, E-Bay. Have fun!!

[miamimark]

"But who better to talk about the dangers and heartache drugs do than the mother of an abuser. This isn't hypocritical one bit."

Tell that to all the moms out there whose kids are in jail for Mother's Day and didn't get a pass. THAT is the hypocrisy.

[miamimark]

Hillary wouldn't happen to be a hypocrite, would she?

They're all hypocrites once they get a taste of power.

[floriduh voter]

Columba sure looks sophisticated. I changed my mind. No ebay. Snoozing early. but first BTTT. I am getting very s l e e p y . . .

[solo gringo]

Fla is as lucky as we are here in texas they have a bush in the rite place the bushes are a class act thank god for them and pray that god will guide them as in the past.

[PhilDragoo]

But who better to talk about the dangers and heartache drugs do than the mother of an abuser.

That shows character.

And who better than the brother of an abuser?

In Roger Morris' recent book Partners in Power, Morris quotes Roger Clinton on a 1983-84 surveillance film stating, "Got to get some [cocaine] for my brother. He's got a nose like a vacuum cleaner."

[MoJo2001]

Florida and our country are blessed to have Barbara, Laura, and Columba as wonderful role models to young women these days. I know that my own mother was always praying that her own children would follow the righteous path. While I must admit that we have sometimes strayed, her love and prayers kept us moving forward.

I believe that Floridians should be very proud to have her as a First Lady. Besides, if this were Hillary and Chelsea..they'd find a way to blame it on ANYONE but themselves. The Right Wing Conspiracy would have been the reason that Chelsea became this or that.

Columba has three beautiful children and a man that loves her. Which is more than I can say for Hillary Clinton. Columba can proudly hold her head high. Hillary can only countdown the days until she's departed the Earth with shame or she's voted out of office and she's riding Air China to her true homeland. God Bless Columba, Barbara, and Laura!!!

[mafree]

Go Columba and of course- GO JEB!!

[GiovannaNicoletta]

They're all hypocrites once they get a taste of power.

No, not all. A mother who has suffered heartbreak as a result of the decisions made by a grown child attempting to spare other parents that heartbreak is not a hypocrite, but a selfless, compassionate individual.

How you can possibly see hypocrisy in what Mrs. Bush is doing is beyond me. For her to go out and speak publicly after what her family has been put through by the choices of this grown daughter, and to risk charges of "hypocrisy" by Clinton kneepad leftists whose blind hatred of anything conservative is downright pathological, is, to me, an act of great courage.

[summer]

Re your post #12 - You can be a pure hypocrite or you can approach events honestly.

If you click on the source link I provided in the post, you can visit Columba Bush's web site, and click on the left sidebar to news articles about her numerous visits to drug treatment centers. She is not doing this to draw publicity to her daughter, but, obviously, her daughter's plight has honestly had an impact on Mrs. Bush - as explained in this article, posted on her web site:

Recent News > Academy Tour

State's First Lady Vows To Toughen Drug Fight

By: Rich Tucker
Times-Union
February 6, 2002

CAMP BLANDING - A week after her daughter was charged with prescription fraud, Florida's first lady, Columba Bush, said yesterday her daughter's troubles intensify her commitment to her work in drug abuse prevention.

"Now more than ever, I'm going to tell whoever wants to hear me that this is a very serious issue and we should be more aware of the horrifying things that can happen," Bush told reporters at the end of a tour of the Florida Youth Challenge Academy at Camp Blanding.

Noelle Bush, 24, was arrested Jan. 29, accused of trying to fraudulently buy prescription drugs from a Tallahassee pharmacy. The governor and his staff have commented little on the incident and asked for privacy.

The first lady has been a vigorous supporter of state and national substance abuse organizations throughout her husband's first term.

Representatives from those organizations said Bush's intimate experience with drug abuse in her own family would make her an even better drug prevention advocate. ...

[summer]

Re your post #15 - see my post #40.

[summer]

Re our post #20 -Imagine if this was Hillary & Chelsea?

I would never wish the problem of drug abuse on anyone, and I am glad Hillary and Chelsea do not appear to have this problem. Having said that, I would think the millions of families in this nation who do suffer from problems of drug addiction welcome, with open arms, Columba Bush's dedication to this widespread problem, as well as the comments both she and her husband have at times publicly made about their concern for their daughter.

[summer]

Re your post #32 --

Tell that to all the moms out there whose kids are in jail for Mother's Day and didn't get a pass. THAT is the hypocrisy.

You seem not to know too much about FL law, or Gov. Bush's record on the passage of new legislation pertaining to drug matters. I will try to find a link and post it for you, so you can see there was a law passed, months before Noelle's arrest, and such law pertains to all the people in this state. She did not get a "pass" - the options available to her her in the FL system are the same options available to other people experiencing their first arrest for this charge. Does it help to have a good lawyer when one is arrested? I would guess, yes, it helps to have someone who actually knows FL law.

[miamimark]

By MIKE BRANOM, Associated Press (August 24, 2001) ORLANDO — A proposed ballot initiative that would require courts to offer treatment to certain drug offenders came under attack by Gov. Jeb Bush on Thursday.

The initiative, called "Right to Treatment and Rehabilitation for Nonviolent Drug Offenders," would force judges to grant treatment or rehabilitation to anyone charged with simple possession of drugs or drug paraphernalia.

"To suggest there should be no penalties for continued drug use is to stick our heads in the sand," Bush said.

Like I said-"Hypocrisy."

[summer]

Your post concerns "continued" drug use, and the info is incomplete. The law he did sign is dated after that article, and does offer treatment for 1st time users. Let me see if I can find it on the state web site in a search, then you will have a bigger picture.

[summer]

This new drug treatment law is dated May 2001 - and, I believe his own daughter in this drug court system described below. Also, let me search again for the other new law I am thinking of:

Government > Search > News Release Search > House Bill 199

Governor Signs Drug Treatment Program at Drug Court Graduation

House Bill 199 enhances Drug Treatment Programs

For Immediate Release
Thursday, May 17, 2001

Contact:
Elizabeth Hirst
(850) 488-5394

FT. LAUDERDALE Governor Jeb Bush today signified his strong commitment to cutting drug abuse in Florida by signing House Bill 199 at the graduation ceremony of Judge Melanie May’s Broward County Drug Court.

“We are committed to dramatically decreasing drug abuse in Florida. The graduates here today demonstrate the effectiveness of the drug court system that uses the authority of the criminal justice system to encourage abstinence from drugs,” said Governor Bush. “Data show that drug courts provide an exceptionally high success rate for treating the addicted and breaking the cycle between drugs and crime.”

House Bill 199, sponsored by State Senator Locke Burt and State Representative Allen Trovillion, both of whom were on hand for the signing, strengthens Florida’s drug court systems. The Drug Court bill signed into law by the Governor will allow each of Florida’s seventy drug courts to preserve its unique local character while ensuring a degree of uniformity, common training, and universal measurement standards. It also creates a statewide system for transferring drug court participants from one Florida drug court jurisdiction to another.

Drug courts aim to reduce recidivism in the criminal justice system by putting non-violent, non-habitual drug offenders into treatment programs rather than imprisoning them. Florida has been a pioneer in the drug court movement, and has extended its operations into all twenty of the state’s judicial circuits. During the drug court graduation, the Governor signed into law a bill that institutionalizes drug courts into the state courts system.

Jim McDonough, Director of Florida’s Office of Drug Control and present at the graduation, noted: “This bill improves an already highly successful criminal justice-treatment system. Drug courts are setting the pace for retention of addicts in drug treatment programs and for keeping them free of drugs and crime in the months and years after treatment. As a result, we are making steady progress in reducing drug abuse and crime in Florida.”

Patrick Smith first began volunteering when his grandchildren were attending Parker Elementary. “A good education is the best gift you can give a child,” said Smith.

Addressing the 175 graduates, the Governor praised the graduates for their resolve and success in staying clean of drugs over the past 12 months and encouraged them to continue to remain drug free and to steer clear of the crime fueled by drug use.

[summer]

From a January 2000 press release, available here and excerpted below:

Governor Jeb Bush's proposed FY 2000-2001 budget calls for an increase of $28.9 million budget over the current fiscal year. The Governor proposes substantial increases in community-based, juvenile and state prison treatment programs as well as drug courts, which use the coercive power of the law to treat non-violent drug offenders. The budget is available on the Governor's Website: www.flgov.com.

[wingnuts'nbolts]

Pardon my laughter, but you are transparent.

[wingnuts'nbolts]

Summer, talk about casting pearls before swine. This 15 year resident of Miami, via NY and Probably PBC, is a disruptor and not to be taken seriously. You, Summer, are much too sincere in your efforts to educate, but there are none so ignorant as those who want to be.

[katherineisgreat]

As a matter of fact, she has been doing these kinds of things since before the trouble with her daughter surfaced. And yes, she does talk about her daughter at some of these events.