By MATT CHANDLER
mchandler@bizjournals.com | 716-541-1654

In a day and age when drug use, violence and alcohol abuse seem to be glorified in the media, schools are fighting an uphill battle and often take drastic measures to reach students.

Traditional messages of "Just say no" may fly over the heads of tech-savvy, high-speed youth. Still, it may be a leap for a school to decide to bring in a triple murderer - a convicted felon who spent nearly four decades in prison - to address students.

To find out if such a decision pays dividends, all one has to do is stand outside the auditorium after Jerry Balone's presentation. Look at students' faces and listen to their conversations - there's no mistaking the effect that he has on the teens (and adults) who hear his story.

"At first he was intimidating a little bit," said Mike McDonough, a senior at North Tonawanda High School. "But by the end, I thought he was funny. He seemed like a cool guy."

From private suburban schools to rural middle schools and college campuses across Western New York, you'll see similar reactions. People's initial fears of Balone often are replaced by varying degrees of respect, appreciation and admiration.

Cheryl Holmwood, also a senior, echoed her classmate.

"I was nervous at first," she said. "But obviously he is out of jail and he is on the right path, doing good things, so I was OK with it."

She said she knows there are people in her school who could fall into the same traps with drugs and gangs, which ultimately led Balone to prison, and she sees his talk as a chance to change that.

"People can live by his example and do better things in their own lives," Holmwood said.

Balone spent a day last week speaking to the freshman class at Niagara Falls High School. At one point, he asked the students if any of them knew anyone in prison. Hands shot up as students talked about visiting fathers, brothers and uncles behind bars.

Balone used the opportunity to share some graphic details of what life is like for their loved ones. His detailed descriptions of eating and drinking from his toilet, prison yard violence and drug trafficking reached even the youngest members of the audience.

David Yarger is a 14-year-old freshman at the school. He said Balone's tale of prison life wasn't anything like the way it is portrayed in movies and television.

"I was very surprised to hear about some of the things people will do in prison," he said. "It was crazy to hear what they do to get the drugs in prison and the violence that happens."

Fellow ninth-grader Rebecca Swartz said, for her, the message hit close to home.

"I feel like there are kids in our school who could get into that life he talked about," Swartz said, adding that she was shocked to hear Balone mention the number of women in prison and the level of violence among them.

"When I think of bad people, I think of guys. So it was weird when he was talking about the violence and how many women are in prison," she said.

As students lined up inside the lecture hall to shake Balone's hand, ask questions and get his business card, they were asked what they thought about the concept of redemption for a self-described "killer."

"I do think people deserve a second chance and he is a good example of that," McDonough said.