Ira Tozer, Brookings famous “waving, walking man,” leads BHHS students on a trip across the Chetco River bridge Tuesday. Photo by Arwyn Rice

Two dozen students from Brookings-Harbor High School joined Tozer for a walk from the school across the Chetco River Bridge to Harbor and back again, waving to passing drivers along the way.

“Everyone in class is happy,” Bruins senior Daniel Demerjian said after the walk. “I’ve never seen anyone like (Tozer).”

The students are members of a class called “Basic Necessities of Life,” taught by Cindy Babcock.

“It is about healthy, creative ways in life,” Babcock said.

And who better to lead a class lesson than Tozer, a local icon who has been walking around town and waving to motorists for seven years.

The students started the walk with energy and enthusiasm. From Oak Street to the south end of the Chetco River bridge, students walked  behind Tozer and waved, getting honks and return waves from passing drivers.

Expired medication can be disposed of during Saturday’s turn-in day

“We are encouraging community members to comb through their medicine cabinets and turn in old or expired prescription drugs,” Police Chief P.J. Janik said.

“The original scope of this program is to keep these prescription drugs out of the hands of children and people who may abuse this opportunity,” he said. “It also keeps these drugs out of our water supply and out of landfills.”

The event is sponsored by the Gold Beach Police Department, the Curry County Sheriff’s Office and the Curry County Commission on Children and Families.

“I had a first hand opportunity to see this program’s full effect in Prescott (Ariz.) as part of our MATFORCE program, which was a task force comprised of community members, the County Attorney’s Office and local law enforcement ...” he said.

The goal of the program was to address issues of methamphetamines in the greater Prescott area, Janik said.