LAURINBURG — Children at a local day care received a special visit from a community lawman during their Black History Month program on Tuesday.
“We wanted to get a black, known public figure to talk to them during Black History Month,” said Cynthia Washington, manager for Laurinburg Head Start Center.
Former Scotland County Sheriff Shep Jones was the first black elected sheriff for Scotland County and he spoke to four classes, ages 3 to 5 years old, at Laurinburg Head Start — telling them to listen to their teachers and pay attention to their lessons.
”Right now, what you are doing in your schoolwork, you’re building a foundation. Make sure you know your colors and ABCs, it’s important that you get that,” said Jones. “If you do, you will have a chance to do wonderful things.”
He told the youngsters to dream big and that education is the gateway to success.
“If you want to be a doctor or basketball player or teacher or lawyer, do it. Don’t let anyone stop you,” he said. “The key is you can’t get in trouble and you have to prepare yourself academically so you can achieve those goals.”
He also highly encouraged them to stay away from drugs and to avoid peer pressure from friends who may ask them to do weed or pills.
“Drugs are bad for you, they cause you to do bad things,” said Jones. “As a sheriff, I had to put a lot of people in jail for drugs.
“People talk about how it messes their minds up and makes them do things,” he added. “You don’t want to do drugs because it makes you do criminal things you normally wouldn’t do. If you stay away from drugs you have won half the battle.”
At the end of his speech, he led the children in a pledge to not do drugs and to be successful.
When asked why it is important to talk to young children about drugs, Jones said he will continue to do so because it is a big issue in the county.
“It’s so prevalent in our community and it leaves so many scars and socio-economic problems in our community,” he explained. “You talk about drugs, importance of success and education — that’s their ticket out.“
After Jones’s speech, the classes and Jones posed for photos and teachers went over the high points of the speech with their classes.
“Learn something, stick to it, and make it happen,” said Jones.
Jael Pembrick can be reached at 910-506-3169 or jpembrick@laurinburgexch.wpenginepowered.com.
