MORE AREA STUDENTS USE DRUGS, ALCOHOL OUTSIDE OF SCHOOL

48 Percent Of Area Students Had Alcohol In Past 30 Days; 14.5 Percent
Have Smoked Marijuana In Past 30 Days

MANITOWOC -- Lincoln High School junior Mike Tyeptanar often hears
stories in the halls about classmates drinking and partying on the weekends.

He said too few students take drinking seriously, even though he
believes they should.

"I think students are too lenient with drinking," he said. "People
are usually joking about how people were getting drunk at parties. I
think they should take it more seriously. It's when they don't that
accidents happen."

According to results from a recent Youth Risk Behavior Study, 48
percent of high school students in Manitowoc County had one
alcoholic drink in the past 30 days, and 30 percent had five or more
drinks in one sitting. Just more than 40 percent say they believe
their peers would say it's OK to have five or more drinks in a row.

The test was given to a sample group of ninth-through 12th-grade
students during the 2004-05 school year and was administered online.
The survey, developed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, is designed to measure student behaviors and perceptions
relating to alcohol, tobacco, other drugs and other aspects of their lives.

In Manitowoc County, 6.4 percent of high school students tried
marijuana for the first time before age 13, according to the survey.
Statewide, 6.7 percent say they tried the drug before age 13.

Overall, 28 percent of Manitowoc County high school students have
smoked marijuana, and 7.8 percent of students here have used cocaine
or crack cocaine.

Reedsville High School Principal Tony Butturini said he's confident
drugs and alcohol are not being brought into the school, and said
it's the out-of-school parties he's concerned about.

"I don't usually hear stories, but I do sometimes hear about parties
going on," he said. "I'm not naive enough to think they're not
happening. If we have anyone drinking, it's a big problem. And if we
have anyone using drugs, it's a big problem. I want no one in this
school using."

In its attempt to keep students drug and alcohol free, the school
occasionally offers weekend activities -- like the post-prom event
held on Saturday.

"We try to put these on to give students a safe place to go," Butturini said.

Butturini said the school also uses social services like the
Manitowoc County Alliance for Substance Abuse Prevention and the
DARE program administered by the Manitowoc County Sheriff's
Department. The Manitowoc Police Department also has a DARE program.

Sheriff's deputy and DARE officer Mike Herrmann said the program is
designed to give students information about drugs, their affects and
ways to say 'no.'

"We believe the program does work," he said.

The DARE program through the Sheriff's Department is offered at area
parochial schools and in the Reedsville, Valders and Mishicot school
districts.

The program introduces fifth- and sixth-grade students to
information about alcohol, tobacco and marijuana, and also teaches
students friend-building techniques and ways to stay in control of
friendships.

Butturini said they team up with the Sheriff's Department to search
the school unannounced for drugs and alcohol and are yet to turn up
any drugs. That's a step in the right direction, Butturini said.

The survey results show that 10.8 percent of high school students in
Manitowoc County have been offered, sold or given illegal drugs on
school property.

Butturini hopes that using programs like DARE and educating students
about drugs and alcohol will curb the sale, possession and use of
drugs and alcohol.

"I have a goal of having no one using in this school," he said.

Survey says...

* 28.4 percent of Manitowoc County high school students say they used
alcohol before age 13. The state average is 23.7 percent.

* 89 percent of county high school students believe there is at least
some risk in drinking five or more drinks in a sitting, yet 30
percent have had five or more drinks at one time in the past 30 days.

* 14.5 percent of high school students have smoked marijuana in the
past 30 days -- 5.6 percent have smoked the drug more than 10 times.

* 38.6 percent of the students surveyed say they either approve or
are indifferent when asked how much they approve of people smoking
marijuana occasionally.

* 4.2 percent of students in Manitowoc County have used cocaine in
the past 30 days.

* 7.3 percent of students have used in their lifetime other drugs,
including methamphetamines, heroin, Ecstasy or sniffed glue to get high.

* 1.2 percent of students say they've attended school in past 12
months under the influence of drugs or alcohol.