The Worth Caring Coalition met again Tuesday night and continued their ongoing dialogue about the problem of underage drinking in the county. Immediate needs in the area were recruitment, getting together activities that were alternatives to alcohol, and bringing more people into the process. Chris Turpin of the Heartland Foundation encouraged them, saying that their efforts would make a difference down the road. "It used to be that when I grew up, there was Joe Camel," he said. "Now, smoking is not such a cool thing to do any more. And that was the result of people like you."
Coalition members reported that they had already got together two dance classes, taught by an instructor from Mount Ayr; they said that there were 15-20 people at both of these events. Coalition member Megan McClain said that the hardest part was getting peers to change. "The stuff I found out was so shocking, I didn’t even think of that stuff," she said.
Gary Hillebrand of Preferred Healthcare and Turpin suggested some ideas for the students -- designing T-shirts, setting up rules for members, giving out cards for staying clean, and scholarship opportunities for other kids. McClain said that those were ideas and that the main thing for the coalition was to keep on track with what they were doing. She said that they were working on having a drive-in movie for the summer as well as reaching out to the elementary students as well. Hillebrand said that a lot of what they did would have a major impact and then pointed to a surprising statistic -- "75% of you will come back here." Turpin added, "You will have an inside track on telling kids what they need to hear about underage alcohol."
McClain said that anyone over 21 could get alcohol for younger teens and that more and more, people in their 30’s and 40’s were hanging out with high school kids. She said that was one of the main factors driving the underage drinking problem in the county. As Superintendent Dr. Linda Gray Smith pointed out, this could lead to further problems down the road such as domestic violence. Deputy Sheriff Dennie Mildfeldt said that in 98% of the arrests that he made, alcohol was involved. Hillebrand said that one of the strengths of the coalition’s activities were that they were reaching out to the adults in the community. "It used to be that programs were just focused on you, and that is not enough," he said. "Youth are not always in the position to get things done, and adults are."
Mildfeldt said that one attitude that led to the problem is that people think, "I got drunk when I was young, and I don’t see the problem." He said that youth were drinking more than their parents were, reinforced by the fact that parents buy 2-3 cases of beer. But Judge Joel Miller said that the problem was not necessarily the local convenience stores; he said that when the state did a recent sting operation, the clerks all ran the kids out of the store. He said that the difference between Worth County and other places was that older people were generally working the registers.
Hillebrand said that attitudes towards drunkenness were another factor. "Most cities have the problem of stores selling underage people liquor," he said. "We’re not proud in St. Joseph that our rate is so high, and one of the first steps to combat that is to raise public awareness. It used to be that it was a matter of public embarrassment if you showed up drunk to something."
Hillebrand said that another attitude that he saw was the misconception that if someone only drank one day of the week, they were not an alcoholic. "But if they only drink on Friday, and they are focusing all that week on Friday, then they are still an alcoholic," he said. Hillebrand, who works with kids who are trying to get free of substance abuse, said that it used to be that there was no empathy or compassion for students. "No community organizations or schools understood what was going on with these kids," he said. "Fortunately, we have moved beyond that." Hillebrand encouraged the coalition members to come up with a set of best practices that have been proven successful in many different settings that they could use for their program.
Hillebrand said that another myth about alcohol that he encountered was that it was better for the kids to drink at home than it was to go away and do it. But he said that myth ignored the fact that the human brain does not fully develop until it is 25. "People who start drinking before that don’t reach their potential," he said. He pointed to the case of Yankee baseball superstar Mickey Mantle, whom he said hit all those home runs, but still did not play up to his potential because of his drinking problems. "He could have done even greater things than what he did," he said. The dying Mantle himself said that kids should not look up to him as a role model.
Then, Hillebrand challenged the students to look for ways to make things better. "We’re not looking to blame anyone," he said. "We’re looking for how we can make things better." He said that merely doing mass assemblies, horror stories, and reciting facts would not be enough; only a combination of activities would reach the community and the people that they were trying to reach.
Hillebrand said that too often, such efforts only focused on weaknesses; he said that the students should focus on strengths and resources such as law enforcement, the school system, and youth groups. He said that once the community got a handle on the alcohol problem that other problems, such as robberies, domestic violence, and drug abuse would go down in the community as well. "And alcohol is involved in 75% of domestic violence cases," he added.
He said that it was also a matter of getting out and talking to as many different people as possible. "Even people who oppose you won’t stand in your way if you talk to them," he said. Superintendent Dr. Linda Gray Smith said that she would call around and see if she could find someone interested in providing self-defense classes; there was a lot of interest in that expressed by area youth along with dance classes.
McClain said that one of the problems was that there was nothing to do in the area but ride four-wheelers. She said that it was a matter of figuring out how to get people involved.
Turpin said that sometimes, it was a matter of trial and error; for instance, one idea that worked for one teacher was taking his students to the local jail and having his students lie down in the hard beds. "They did not want any part of that," he said.
Brooke Adams said that one of the problems in the county was that there were hardly any Minor in Possession (MIP) arrests in the county. Highway Patrolman Scott Pritzel said that juveniles were routinely taken to Maryville or Bethany where they were detoxified and released to their parents; usually, he said that they would not tell them who supplied them with alcohol. He said some people supplied alcohol to teens for the money; for instance, they would take money from the teen to buy alcohol and then get some for themselves with the remainder.
Hillebrand reminded the students that they were in the majority; for instance, 80-88% of students don’t smoke pot. "Most would rather do fun stuff," he said. "Focus on the ones who would rather do fun stuff than hang out and use alcohol and drugs," he said.
He said that when power was given to youth, their involvement skyrockets. But Hillebrand said that there were obstacles that the coalition had to deal with. For instance, parents hosting parties or not securing alcohol might be an obstacle as well as new problems, such as abuse of prescription medications. He said that one key would be for the group to train people as advocates; another idea would be to meet with representatives and discuss laws that they could pass. "You need to decide what it is you need to do," he said. In places that stay at square one, things will continue to get worse; your goal is to get to square two and square three."
Teacher Jonell Cook said that there was a family issue that was involved. "Some people see underage drinking in the family as natural and normal because they’ve always done it," she said. McClain said that a lot of times, people were not open to new ideas. Hillebrand responded that "we can only do what we can. We can’t change backgrounds, but we can be role models to other kids," he said. Turpin added that a lot of times, the family members were absent. "That’s when you have to step in as a teacher," he said.
Cook said that a lot of times, it was generational; another factor was that there were a lot of different ways that people looked at things. She recounted a poverty project where everyone had to take pictures of what they thought poverty looked like. The students focused on old barns and houses, she focused on gardens "because that was their food," and others focused on spiritual poverty.
Hillebrand came back to his point about role modeling. "Even 5th graders can see for themselves how alcohol affects people," he said. He said that it was a matter of setting norms that stated that this was not acceptable as well as enrichment of strengths. "Focus on what you would like to see done, and plan a campaign or strategy that fits your needs," he said.
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