a,

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School District #88 (Terrace) (¢

Counterattack: A message |

from the Thornhill Junior

Secondary Counterattack Club $&

The Thornhill Junior Secon-
dary CounterAttack Club con-

- sists of a group of dedicated

young people who are concerned
about the well-being of their
fellow students. In spite of the
many efforts to educate the
public, they know many people
still insist on drinking and driv-
‘ing. They also know that alcohol
is to blame for over 200 deaths
and 7,000 traffic injuries in B.C.
every year. And they know that
every one of these injuries and
deaths could have been pre-
vented.

For this reason, the members
of the Thornhill Junior Secon-
dary CounterAttack Club would

- like to remind their fellow

students of the following points.
Remember them. They’re im-

- portant. They could save your

life or that of a friend.
- NEVER drink and drive. And

“NEVER accept a ride from.

anyone who has been drinking.
Consider your alternatives:

*Call a friend or a member of

your family.

*Take a cab.

*Take a bus.

*Walk.

*Spend the night where you are.
If someone you Know thinks

it’s smart to drink and drive:

*Offer him a ride if you have a

_ licence.

*Find someone with a licence
who will give hime a ride.

*Take away his keys.

*If he won’t give the keys, seek
help of an adult.

"If he won’t give the keys, and
there are no adults around,
DON'T ARGUE... PHONE
THE POLICE. It’s better to
have a friend arrested than to
have to go to his funeral. —

And there’s one other thing
that’s worth remembering...
Alcohol-free activities can be a
lot of fun. Why not try it? You
won’t have nearly as many rules
to rememeber.

Someone to talk to....

Life would sure be a lot easier if |

. had someone to talk to.

Professionals tell us that sub-
stance abuse by teenagers is a very
real and serious problem. And
most of us agree. There is abso-
lutely no doubt in my mind that
there are some pretty bad kids out
there. |

We're always hearing stories
about wild parties, drugs, drinking,
vandalism, theft. We hear about, or

“Bee evidence, of irresponsible

driving. Wrecked cars... Damaged
property... Broken bodies,

We read about the unlucky ones.
Critically injured... Paralyzed for
life... Dead at sixteen. And there is
absolutely no doubt that many of
these are, or were, bad kids.

Aimless, drunken youth. Going

_ through fife half stoned. With

little, if anything, to offer the
world. Irresponsible teens who
thought they new it all.

We could have told them it was
going to happen, we think to our-
selves, But kids like that aren’t
willing to listen. "Yes," we tell our
own. "It’s,too bad. But they asked
for it... They just wouldn’t listen.
I’m sure glad you're not like that.”

Professionals teil us teen drinking
is a very real and serious problem,
and we know that it’s true. But
those are other people’s kids that

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Terrace Co-

‘| in recognition of Drug & Alcohol Awareness Week

they’re talking about. Not ours.
Those are the bad ones... The ones
who won’t listen. The ones who
don’t have loving parents to set
them straight.

Deep down, though, we know
it’s only a charade. It could one
day be one of our own. It is pos-
sible that one of my kids or yours
could one day have a few drinks,
get behind the wheel, and... We
know it could happen. But we try
to believe that it won’t

We fecl, perhaps, if we isolate
the problem to other people’s kids,
it will never happen to us. Still, we
worry... Because we know it’s not

really true. It could happen to us...
to our kids.
But what else can we do? Being

’ @ parent is tough. All we can do is

feach, have faith... and live with a
little fear. Telling ourselves that
bad things only happen to ir-
responsible parents and kids.

Still. Life would be so much
easier if I had someone to talk to.
But who would understand?

My parents have forgotten. Being
a kid can be pretty tough. Parents,
teachers... They’re always telling
us "teen drinking is a very real and
serious problem". Most of us
agree. But I don’t think very many

‘really understand. I know I don’t.

I mean... My parents drink a lot...

O

4 Wednesday, November 7, 1990 — A Supplement to the Terrace Review

vw,

_ me a rr ;
GETTING DRUN

... JUST DRUNK

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Sometimes.

We hear all the stories. In far
greater detail than they ever will.
There was the grad party out at the
lake... I can hardly wait. The kids
who spray painted the neighbour’s
car... That was pretty dumb. Cruis-
ing the main drag on Saturday

night... Just one more year. Booze —

and drugs... I would never do
that... But it does look sort of cool.
Remember last Friday night. Boy,
if my parents ever found out about
that. ‘They would never under-
Stand." —
They’ve forgotten. As kids, we
have to do things for the very first

time, in front of our peers, and -

make it look like we’ve done it a
thousand times. Blow it, and

, you’re not cool. It’s tough. Some-

times there’s a lot of pressure...
but you’ve got to be cool.
Like... Go to a party. Someone

eR Provres of Lene bed)

The Medical

fin recognition of Drug & Alcohol Awareness Week

brought booze., "I can handle

that." Cruising the main drag.

Someone’s going a little faster... "I.

can go fast too." That’s another
one my parents don’t know about.
I drove Jimmy’s car the other
night... And I’m only fifteen.
Sometimes my parents ask.a lot
of questions and [ say, "Don’t
worry about it. Pve got everything
under control." They believe me...,
But I’m not really sure. It’s just a

geod act. Something I do a dozen

times every day. Beats telling the
truth... I guess. .

In a way, I guess kids are a lot
like their parents. We know other
kids get hurt... Even die. But those
are other kids. I hardly knew any
of them... At least not very well.
And it will never happen to me.
When you're young, you're invin-
cible. Under control... You know

_ what to do. Those other kids were

stupid... They were dumb.
"Don’t worry about it," I tell my

p Association G25

IN FACT IT DOESNT DOA
THING FOR YOU- EXCEPT
_ GET YOU DRUNK. _

DRINKING DRIVING From Thornhill
Counterattack Club

Clinic

COUNTERATIACK — Junlor Secondary

parents. "It won't happen to me.

I’ve got everything under control."
They seem to believe it... But deep
down inside I know it could hap-
pen to me. And sometimes I’m a
little scared.

If I could just be honest. If some-
how | felt that being grown up
meant telling the truth about how

you really ‘feel. Then, maybe, I

might be able to tell my parents
that once in a while I feel a little
scared, Like... Sometimes, every-
thing just seems to moves a little

to fast and my brain can’t keep up.

When I feel like that, I know
things aren’t really under control.
And i know that something bad
could happen to me.

But talking about things like that
isn’t cool. Everyone knows that...
Especially parents. Ever hear your
dad say, "I’m seared.-I don’t know

Cont’d on pg. 6

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