RAFT

[donell@moscow.com (Don Roskovich)]

Visionaries....bear with me.  I cannot locate the fairly recent posting
about RAFT.. I was hoping to e-mail the individual involved.....but,
hopefully, I can reach her through vision2020.

I hope the dance at CJ's was well attended by local youth and enjoyed by
all.  It was extremely generous of CJ's owners and their generosity should
not go unnoticed by the community.

To the individuals organizing RAFT....don't be disheartened if your first
attempts were not as successful as hoped.  Perhaps you are experiencing the
same kind of resistence the Latah Leos did in 1985.

The Leo's were a project of the local Lions club at that time.  As all
members of Lion's International, the Leo's were involved with community
projects including sight and hearing.  They also wanted to do something
positive for the youth of the community and they decided to sponsor
drug-free/alcohol-free dances known as the "Buzz Busters".  What should have
been a darn good fun time was turned into a nightmare for this handful of
Leo's by the opposition they faced from a very unexpected source...their
teachers in high school!!  They were labled as troublmakers and accused of
disgracing "the pride of the North" by "suggesting" that there might be a
drug or alcohol problem at the school.  This crusade against the Latah Leo's
erupted in Dave Johnson's column on the front page of the Lewiston Morning
Tribune.  It was not easy for this group of community-oriented youth to face
the ridicule of their peers and school faculty to boot.

"Buzz Busters" was a good idea and it had the support of many in the
community.  Both Lion's Clubs and the Lioness participated and there were
great donations of food by local businesses. The Moscow Moose Lodge donated
their facility so the Leo's could have a permanent location for their
events.   The Moscow Police Department participated with one of their
officers attending in plain clothes as a chaperone.  In spite of early
opposition there was a series of "Buzz Buster" dances.

Articles regarding the Latah Leos and the "Buzz Busters" can be found in May
20, 1985 and May 27,1985 of the LMT and also the Idahonian May 31, 1985.