Ex-Saint a winner with local students

There was a Saint in St. Bernard recently. Well, an ex-Saint, at least. Hall of Fame linebacker Rickey Jackson, who was part of the New Orleans Saints famed Dome Patrol of the 1980s and 1990s, visited the campus of St. Bernard Middle School in St. Bernard community last week.

In honor of National School Lunch Week, Cindy Pentney, the cafeteria manager at St. Bernard Middle, decided to celebrate with a sports theme and invited the retired Jackson to eat lunch with the students.

At the event, called "All Star School Lunch," Jackson shared with students the importance of eating healthy and being active. Jackson also encouraged students to work hard in school and, even more important, to respect and heed the advice of parents and teachers.

"I made a lot of mistakes in my life, and I don't want you to have to learn the hard way like me," Jackson said. "Your parents and your teachers have your best interests in mind. You know what's right. If someone wants you to do something wrong, let them do it by themselves."

In addition to his short talk, Jackson autographed memorabilia and posed for pictures with students and faculty.

While these middle school students were meeting a football legend, students at Andrew Jackson Elementary School in Chalmette were working with some local heroes as well. For the first time since Hurricane Katrina, the St. Bernard Sheriff's Office's D.A.R.E. program has returned to St. Bernard.

D.A.R.E., or Drug Awareness Resistance Education, is a police officer-led series of classroom lessons that teach children in kindergarten through 12th grades how to resist peer pressure and live productive drug- and violence-free lives.

The D.A.R.E. curriculum is taught by police officers whose training and experience give them the background needed to answer the sophisticated questions often posed by young students about drugs and crime....