TEENS URGED TO STAY AWAY FROM DRUGS AND ALCOHOL

WEAVERVILLE - Students at North Buncombe Middle School learned what it
means to be cool Wednesday - from a district attorney, an ex-con and
an embalmer.

Al Williams from the district attorney's office, Matthew Bacoate III
of Life on Life's Terms and Nian Avery of Hart Funeral Services
visited the school as part of a yearlong tour to impart to students
the importance of not using drugs and alcohol.

"We want to send a message to our kids that we want drug-free schools
and communities," said principal Vicki Biggers. "That's a strong
message to send."

Although students at North Buncombe Middle School are generally 13-14
years old, eighth-grade counselor Debbi Rios said many of them have
already been exposed to harsh realities.

"If the kids don't have problems, their parents do," she said. "We
have quite a few kids whose parents are in prison, and the kids are
displaced to relatives. And you've gotta face it - everything is more
available to them today."

Bacoate began the school tours about four years ago and enlisted the
aid of the district attorney's office and funeral homes to give the
presentation impact.

"If we can impress anything upon you," he told the students, "it's to
listen to us today, and to make better choices in life."

Williams began the program by telling the students what could happen
to them if they get caught using illegal drugs.

"When you got to jail, you lose your right to make decisions," he
said."If you're found guilty, the jailer will tell you what to do,
what to wear and when to go to bed at night."

Bacoate is the executive director of Life on Life's Terms, a residency
program for addicts in Asheville. He spent 22 years addicted to drugs.
He said his addiction started because of peer pressure in high school.

"I like to bring my life to the table," he said. "I want to bring
something real, not what I've heard, but what I've lived. In high
school they told us about the dangers of drugs and alcohol, but I
thought it was all a joke.

"I aspired to cut class and run the halls, and when it came time to
graduate, I didn't have the credits I needed."

Bacoate shared the depths of his addictions: that he bankrupted his
father's business, and that he spent a week in jail and years on probation.

He said that because of felonies on his record, "I can never be
president - I wasn't even allowed to vote for 7 years."

Bacoate said he has been drug free since 1990.

Avery was the last to speak, and the one who may have stirred the
students most.

"I'm an embalmer, a mortician, a funeral director," he said, in a
deep, steady tone. "Call it what you will. I bury the dead."

Avery said he's buried thousands of teen-agers in his career, and
drugs were often the cause of death.

"If you think it's cool to die at 17, when you turn 17, come my way,"
he said.

At the end of the presentation, the students sat still for several
minutes. Fourteen-year-old Chasty Robinson said the 90-minute program
made her think.

"I thought it was great," she said. "It was scary, but it had a good
message. I think it had an impact on everybody."

Life on Life's Terms, which Bacoate founded in 1992, will visit area
schools each Wednesday through the end of May. The organization has a
42-bed facility in Asheville and, according to Bacoate, those beds
"are almost always full."

Life on Life's Terms is a nonprofit organization that receives grants
from the Governor's Commission and the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation
among others.

But Bacoate said his organization is barely staying afloat
financially.

"We have a GED program, substance abuse counseling, job training and
judicial support," he said. "All that takes money we're continually
trying to raise."

Teachers like Wendy Justice hope Life on Life's Terms will stay around
for a long time.

"It was informative, it was straight-talking," she said. "What they
told the kids sunk in. I really do believe they got a lot out of it."