Town hall addresses drinking problems
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PABLO — Weeding out a deeply rooted social problem like underage drinking is no easy task, so at a town hall meeting on the subject Monday evening in Pablo, organizers first went to those who are most affected by the issue: youth.
Several high school students joined a panel of educators, law enforcement officials, tribal leaders, prevention workers and judicial system to discuss how the Flathead Reservation community deals with underage drinking. The young people shared personal experiences and talked about their ideas to combat underage drinking.
One young man, who just turned 17, said he has had serious problems with alcohol and already has a DUI. He’s been sober for several months, and said perhaps what helps him most to stay away from alcohol is knowing that if he gets arrested again, he’ll not only hurt his family, but he’ll have to leave them for a long time.
“If I do get in trouble again, then I will have to go to treatment … for nine months or so,” he said.
Another teen told how her family is full of people with drinking problems, and she’s watched them go in and out of jail and rehab with no improvement. The culture of alcoholism is so embedded in her family and on the Reservation, she said, that she plans to “go to college far away from here” to ensure she doesn’t get sucked into dependence on alcohol.
All of the students suggested that if there were more activities available to them on the weekends, especially late at night, they and their peers would be less likely to turn to drinking for entertainment.
Larry Gennings, chief prosecutor for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai tribes, told the teenagers that one major thing they can do to help stop their friends from getting hurt due to alcohol abuse is “stop the code of silence with law enforcement.”
While it’s not easy to be the person who stands up and helps stop crime when everyone else keeps their mouths shut, talking to police is the right thing to do, Gennings explained.
“Law can’t solve all social ills, but it can help people take the path toward responsible conduct,” he said. “If you want to change the way society is, you need to change some of the ways you relate to your government.”
Tribal police officer Tim McClure agreed, pointing out that tips on underage parties can be called in anonymously, and officers will check up on the information.
“You guys know where the party is Friday night,” he told the young people. “You need to step up to the plate and say, ‘That hurts my friends.’”
With 272 DUI cases in Lake County Justice Court last year, there’s no doubt of the magnitude of the drinking problem in the area, Judge Chuck Wall pointed out. That’s why he’s helping start a new DUI court that will handle only drug and alcohol-related offenses. Offenders will be required to appear in court “every single week for up to a year,” he said.
Of the DUI arrests in Lake County last year, 12 percent were people under age 20, Wall added.
“A lot of the problem, in my opinion, is that (DUI offenders have) grown up in families with alcohol problems,” he said.
Tribal Council member Charlie Morigeau came from one of those families, and came close to perpetuating alcohol abuse in his own family, he said. After losing his mother to alcohol poisoning as a teenager, Morigeau started drinking at age 18.
“I was a binge drinker, and that’s the worst kind,” he said.
He could go for months without a drink, and then when the binge hit, he’d barely sleep for four or five days. It was on such a binge that Morigeau, then age 32, lost a friend in a car accident.
“To this day, I don’t know if I was driving that vehicle,” he said. “Some people said I wasn’t, but I took the rap because it was my vehicle.”
Even after his friend’s death and going through rehab, Morigeau couldn’t say no to the bottle until 11 years ago, when his now 18-year-old son said to his mother, “If dad’s going to continue to drink, I don’t want him to come home.”
“That hit me … I haven’t drank since,” Morigeau said, adding to the students, “You have got to take that road (to sobriety) and make it yourself.”
