BELTON, Mo. — On Thursday, the Belton community began homecoming celebrations with a parade filled with floats, a marching band, the cheerleading squad and homecoming royalty.
From the outside, it may have looked like any Main Street parade.
But from the inside, you could constantly hear “I want you guys to know you matter, you are important.”
“I wish I could wave a wand and we didn’t have a drug issue — Belton is a fine community,” said Sandy Clutter, with You Matter Belton.
In recent months, Belton has seen fentanyl overdoses and teenage deaths.
“We had a former graduate overdose, one student overdose this year and we had a suspected overdose last year," said Mickie Plummer-Shepheard, spokesperson for the Belton School District. "None have been at school.”
Colleen Cochran lost her daughter, Autumn, on Sept. 4 to a fentanyl overdose. Autumn was only 17-years-old.
On Thursday, Cochran took to the parade streets wearing her daughter's picture on her heart, urging people to listen.
“You’re supposed to pick out your daughter’s wedding flowers, not her funeral flowers,” Cochran said. “I don’t want any other parent, child, sister, brother, aunt, uncle to go through this.”
Clutter said she wants the Belton community to understand that it's cared for.
“We want your kids safe, we want your families safe, when it says Belton cares, we do care,” she said.
The groups You Matter Belton and Belton Cares try to connect with parents and encourage teenagers to make smart choices.
“We have groups of community organizations which incorporates school, city, police, county and community members to educate families, students, and staff members about the dangers of drugs,” Plummer-Shepheard said. “We are also highlighting fentanyl poisoning and continuously working on communicating and educating all of the above-mentioned groups. We are focusing on grade-appropriate education, specifically in our middle and high schools.”
Adam Silkwood says his son recently overdosed on fentanyl and wants the community to step up to fight against it too.
“I took off work earlier to be here, I would miss whatever it took to support any effort to stop this stuff,” he said.
Parents can get involved and educated by attending the organization's meetings.
You Matter Belton is hosting a meeting next Thursday at the Belton Education Foundation from 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
A "Belton Cares" meeting is on Oct. 13 at the Belton Police Department.
Lt. Dan Davis, with the Belton Police Department, also weighed in on the issue.
“This is still a tight-knit community and every death is felt,” Davis said. “The people in our community are our family and friends. We will work tirelessly to address the increasing fentanyl problem, by every means possible. This isn’t a local problem, but a regional – and increasingly societal – problem that will require a response on a scale that exceeds our city limits. We will do our part to work with neighboring communities and all applicable law enforcement to eradicate this drug from the area.”
Davis said the department is working with law enforcement partners to bring justice to the family and friends of all deceased victims.
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