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Mayor Cooper jumps out of plane at launch of youth 'think' campaign

Taupo District Council

Monday 26 November 2007, 9:57AM

By Taupo District Council

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Mayor Cooper mid-flight
Mayor Cooper mid-flight Credit: Taupo District Council
Mayor Cooper with fellow Skydiver SADD student Nicole Flaws promoting the ‘THINK’ campaign
Mayor Cooper with fellow Skydiver SADD student Nicole Flaws promoting the ‘THINK’ campaign Credit: Taupo District Council

TAUPO

When his name was drawn out of a hat on Friday to jump out of a plane at the launch of the Youth ‘THINK’ Consequences campaign, Taupo Mayor Rick Cooper’s response was ‘why not’.



Mayor Cooper was joined at the launch of the youth ‘THINK’ campaign by Honourable Mark Burton Labour MP for Taupo, Police Sergeant Anthony Van Dorp, SADD Students from Taupo Nui a Tia and Tauhara Colleges, the local Fire Service Unit and members of the community.



Targeted at our local youth, the ‘THINK’ consequence’s campaign has been designed to be a fun way of reminding youth of the consequences of bad decision making in regards to drinking and driving, violence at parties and unsafe sex. There is also a key message to parents to ‘THINK’ before supplying your under 18 year old with alcohol.



For the month of December 2007 there will be a major promotion of the ‘THINK’ campaign throughout the District with radio and newspaper coverage, signage, messages at liquor outlets, school presentations, a crashed car with the Grim Reaper and workshops for parents of teenagers “sex drugs and rock n roll”. The campaign launch, with the skydive’s sponsored by Skydive Taupo, was sending a message to Youth that you don’t need to get drunk to get high.



Prior to his skydive, Mayor Cooper spoke of his own family experiences with drinking and driving and reiterated to those at the launch that it was close to his heart and how important these messages are for our Youth.



“The Youth are our future and young people these days seem to have an awful lot of temptations to face and challenges ahead of them - this ‘THINK’ campaign is a fun way of reminding them about the consequences of bad decision making”.



The ‘THINK’ campaign has been a collaborative community effort with a group of local organisations working together to develop the initiative. The groups involved include Cafe for Youth, Central Plateau REAP, ACC, YATA (Youth Access to Alcohol), SADD (Students Against Driving Drunk) and Taupo District Council.