TEENS LEND EAR TO ANTI-DRUG SPEAKER

Hillcrest High students expecting a boring, traditional speaker warning
them of the evils of drug and alcohol abuse were surprised, then moved by
drug prevention speaker Milton Creagh, Wednesday afternoon. Most of the
1,000-plus students who packed into the school's gym were standing near the
end as he asked who had been affected by a friend or family member's
substance abuse. Some wept openly and others leaned on friends' shoulders
as they remembered a loved one who had lost the battle.

In his speech, titled The Mask, he told teens to urge friends who need help
to get it and to find someone to talk to about their own problems instead
of hiding them.

"What scares me is that when it comes to people getting addicted to and
abusing drugs, everyone wants to wear a mask," said Creagh, who the state
PTA says has spoken to more than 8 million youths in speeches around the
country.

"I know I did some stuff I didn't have no business doing when I was growing
up trying to be cool. If you're doing stuff you know you don't have any
business doing, talk to someone, get some help," he said.

He told the story of a 17-year-old high school student who was killed by a
friend under the influence of alcohol and playing with a gun. Another
student came up to him at a previous assembly and told him that at 16 he's
the oldest living male in his family, he said. His father and two uncles
had been killed.

Parents first need to inspect their own behavior, he said. Too many parents
are drinking excessively or smoking marijuana in front of their teens, he
said. Second, they must be honest about things they have experienced.

"When your child gets in trouble, don't cover for them and think it's
something you need to hide. Use it as a teachable moment," he said.

Drug and alcohol use frequently plays a role in sexual assaults among young
people, he said. Teens must make sound decisions now, he said.

Text messaging and phone games were on pause. It was like church during a
good sermon, some said.

Kristine Bonnilla, 17, said the hour made her think. Judging by the quiet
gym, she said others must have felt it, too.

"It made me think why haven't I put my foot down and said 'what are you
doing?' It made me think there was something I could do about it," she said.

"He had some oomph to it," said Jonathan Bradshaw, 17. "He brought us into
it and he was funny."

At least 30 students stayed after the assembly to speak privately with Creagh.

"I'm worried about the kids who don't stop and talk to him, who just put on
the mask and go to class," said Phil Clark, coordinator for Red Ribbon
Works, a local coalition that works to get parents involved in the fight
against drug abuse. The school district partnered with the coalition,
District I PTA and Greenville Family Partnership to sponsor Creagh.

Adults are so caught up in work and providing that they don't take time to
listen to their teens, he said. It's so easy to dismiss what seems to an
adult like a trivial problem. State PTA District 1 president Sue Erickson
said she wished that parents could see how these problems are affecting
their children. Erickson, who has a son at Mauldin High, said it brought
tears to her eyes to see so many students standing at the end.

Teens are facing issues their parents have no experience with but some
growing pains are universal, he said.