WJFF launches series on the heroin epidemic

Posted 8/21/12

JEFFERSONVILLE, NY — Heroin addiction is running rampant in our area on both sides of the river. The heroin epidemic is also a national problem. Unfortunately, lives have been lost due to this …

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WJFF launches series on the heroin epidemic

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JEFFERSONVILLE, NY — Heroin addiction is running rampant in our area on both sides of the river. The heroin epidemic is also a national problem. Unfortunately, lives have been lost due to this drug.

This past summer, 20-year-old Rebecca Pisall was shot and killed by her uncle as the result of a dispute over a $20 bag of heroin. To honor her life, The Kingfisher Project was created as a community information and radio project at WJFF.

Pisall was a former student at Sullivan West High School and a resident of North Branch. As a senior in high school, Pisall wrote an essay for a Participation in Government class taught by John Ogozalek. In the essay she wrote about saving an injured kingfisher when no one else wanted to help, and she used this as an example of her philosophy of life. It is about the value of all lives. It is because of her empathetic and intelligent essay that the project was created and named.

The Kingfisher Project has many goals and many outlets of communicating. Along with the radio segments on WJFF, the project also seeks to host roundtable discussions and to connect people with each other through social media. On its website, there is a list under the headline “What Will We Do?” and it includes, “honor the lives of everyone affected by heroin, opiates or other substance abuse; keep the conversation going about heroin and drug abuse; and hold public systems accountable when it comes to legislation, policy changes, funding and other mechanisms that are in place to help control or curtail substance abuse and the crimes that go along with it.”

The first radio segment aired on Monday, January 12 during “Making Waves” and will repeat on Sunday, January 18 during “Wild Card.” It is also available in the archives on WJFF’s website. The first chapter was titled “It’s Not Who You Think It Is.” It featured excerpts from the December meeting of the Wayne County Heroin Prevention Task Force as well as guests Julie Pisall, Rebecca’s mom; Ogozalek; and Sullivan County Sheriff Michael Schiff. Barbara Gref is the host.

Pisall’s essay about the kingfisher is posted on the website (thekingfisherproject.com), as well as an introduction by Ogozalek. In it, he writes, “Of course, Rebecca’s essay matters because she is yet another casualty of gun violence as well as this terrible epidemic of heroin addiction we’re living through. Drug abuse isn’t someone else’s problem; it’s not another family’s tragedy. Because if this horrible thing can happen to our Rebecca and her family and friends, it can slam anyone.”

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