DEATH TO METH EVENT SET FOR JUNE 19

Heavy metal head Justes Wilson and college student Bonnie Lockhart
know firsthand how meth can destroy families and contribute to an
unending perpetuation of drug addiction.

Wilson's 15-year-old cousin died within minutes of taking one hit of
it. He's from the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota where meth
is widely abused. He left there because "meth is crazy," he says. "A
lot of people are users ... my cousin's mother, she showed my cousin
that lifestyle. She made it OK for her to do that. ... it's not just
the kids that are messed up; it's the parenting that's messed up, the
mentality that's blown out of the water."

Since Wilson's cousin's death, Wilson and his girlfriend Lockhart
have organized the annual Death to Meth - part concert, part open mic
- - events on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota with hundreds
attending, but this year they're bringing the action to the Coyote
Valley gym on June 19.

Coincidentally, Wilson found out about his cousin's death shortly
before he was scheduled to perform with his musical hero, Aztlan
Underground, a metal band whose ex-drummer was addicted to meth. At
this year's Death to Meth, Aztlan Underground is scheduled to
perform alongside HGW, Tybox, Overload, local band The Broadcasters,
and Marvin Helper; and recovering meth abusers are scheduled to talk
about how they broke their habits.

There will be no prepared speeches allowed at the open mic because
Wilson is looking for the real stories, not the premade.

The family-friendly event will be free of charge and drugs and
alcohol will be prohibited.

Even though Mendocino County's meth problem may be smaller than South
Dakota's, Lockhart and Wilson are urging the community to stop it
before it gets out of control. "We don't want to get to the point
where Mendocino County is the best place to get it," Lockhart says,
adding that it's become increasingly difficult to organize Death to
Meth in South Dakota because meth is so much more prevalent. "(It's)
such a part of life and people really, really love it. It would be
like us saying here: no marijuana, everybody stop."

Lockhart, who grew up on the Pinoleville reservation, explained that
when medical marijuana became much more prominent there, people put
up barbed-wire fences and got guns to guard it. "It really changed my
neighborhood. I think that the desensitization that has occurred in
the excess of marijuana and the celebration of it all is definitely
very similar to the desensitization of the meth in Pine Ridge."

Pine Ridge is even more rural than Ukiah. Other than a "Boys and
Girls Club that you have to pay a membership fee for," Lockhart says
there are "two gas stations, one supermarket and two stoplights. It's
really, really rural."

And meth is readily available. Nine-year-olds could buy it at the
store, she says, and it doesn't help that 85 percent of the
population is unemployed. "It's low expectation," she says.

Wilson says he left Pine Ridge because of how out of control it is.
"Meth is crazy A Meth culture is a joke there. It's so bad people
will joke about it. The people who won't use it will joke about it A
Even old ladies aren't safe from it there. Their grandchildren are
smokin' it in the next room, fumes are coming in and affecting them.
So that's the culture - there's no care ... I know a guy that killed
his own parents, burned their bodies alive. It's like geez, are you
kidding me? I went to school with you.'"

Asked if he could make a comparison between meth culture out in Pine
Ridge to the pot culture here, Wilson said: "There's a bunch of
sissies out here, you know what I mean? A Marijuana will make you
messed up. It will make you stupid, but I don't know anyone whose
blood vessels exploded from smoking marijuana. I am in between on
that - the pros and cons of marijuana ... People are actually killing
people for doing crazy stuff, people selling their virginity for
meth. Stuff like that - it's such a horrible thing."

The concert will be held on Saturday, June 19 from noon to 9 p.m. at
the Coyote Valley gym, located at 7751 N. State St. in Redwood Valley.

The event is sponsored by the Mendocino County Youth Project, the
Coyote Band of Pomo Indians, Mendocino County Sheriff's Office,
Sherwood Valley Rancheria, Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Ukiah Holiday
Inn Express. For more information, call MAO at 272-6218 or MCYP at
463-4915.