HOPI JR/SR HIGH SCHOOL TACKLES DRUG & ALCOHOL ABUSE PROBLEMS

Mother's plea: Don't let drugs and alcohol wreck your lives.

POLACCA -- Hopi Jr/Sr High School has decided to take its war on drugs to
the next level by bringing in drug sniffing dogs to detect drugs. The Hopi
Jr/Sr High School Governing Board approved the action at its last school
board meeting.

The Navajo County Sheriff's Department will bring in the drug-sniffing dogs
at an unannounced date.

Lynn Root, drug and alcohol abuse prevention counselor at Hopi Jr/Sr High
School, said the idea is not to arrest students, but to get them to leave
the drugs and alcohol at home.

"Let it (the solution) start here and hope it moves into the communities,"
Root said.

Root warned that if the drug and alcohol problem doesn't lighten up then
the school could prohibit students from using backpacks.

Root said a recent school wide survey had good and bad news. The bad news
was that Hopi Jr/Sr High School had a high drug and alcohol abuse rate
among students. The good news is that students attending Hopi Jr/Sr High
School have strong religious and moral beliefs that can help them confront
alcohol and drug problems.

The school also approved putting teachers and staff through 10 hours of
drugs and alcohol prevention training.

For those interested in learning more about drug and alcohol issues, Hopi
Police Officer Paul Sidney is slated to appear on the Hopi High Teen Show
on KUYI radio between 1:30 and 2 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 4.

Survivor's plea

Jessica Vicente, who lost her son and her father to drunk drivers in
separate incidents, urged students to stay away from alcohol and other
drugs so they won't wreck their lives.

Vicente made her tearful plea Oct. 28 when she addressed students at Hopi
Jr/Sr High School as part of the Red Ribbon Week on drug prevention.

Vicente described her life as one of emptiness for the losses and one of
hate for the ones who inflicted it on her family.

"I get lonesome. [My son] Thomas was like a husband to me because he always
wanted to know what I was doing and where I was going," she said.

Thomas was a popular athletic eighth grader when he was killed in the car
crash Feb. 1. Thomas, 15 at the time, and his aunt Alberta Kinale were in a
vehicle when they were hit by a car driven by James Youvella with Tyson
Collateta as a passenger. All four were killed in the two-car accident,
which happened right near Hopi Health Care Center. Jessica lost her father
Martin Vicente, in a drunk driving incident in 1995.

"I can't go to the game. It hurts too much because I can't see my son out
there," she said.

But Vicente also told of her own battle against alcoholism and how her son
Thomas Vicente's death caused her to give up drinking.

"I don't do drugs or alcohol. I go to bingo where I know what I'm doing,"
she said. "After I lost my son, I changed. Now I just stay home and listen
to my kids."

Vicente said when she was on alcohol and other drugs that the addiction was
more important than listening to her kids.

"If you have something to tell your parents, then tell them because you
never know when it will be too late," she told the students.

Vicente said students show disrespect for their parents if they use the
parents' money to buy drugs.

"Parents strive to make ends meet, and then we spend it on alcohol," she said.

Vicente said students should think about the consequences of using alcohol
and drugs.

"If your doing drugs and alcohol it's not worth it. You can get in trouble
with the law or kicked out of school. I wished I finished school, but most
of the time I was in the office. The principal would be yelling at me and I
would be laughing because I was high," she recalled. "But now I wished I
cared then."

Vicente noted that when she attended Hopi High School that they didn't have
security guards like they do today. She wishes that they had security
guards when she was going to high school.

Vicente remembers throwing a desk at a teacher and getting suspended. She
said in her day that it was marijuana and alcohol. While alcohol remains
popular today meth, also known as G, is the most popular drug among youth.

Vicente said she has a friend who doesn't watch or take care of her baby
because she's on meth. When Vicente observes this she takes care of the
baby until her friend comes back to reality.

Vicente said when she was on alcohol that Child Protective Services once
took away her children. She said she sees CPS do this to other parents, but
that the children always get returned.

Vicente said not taking alcohol or other drugs now makes it easier for her
to raise her three children: Kelton, a 15-year-old eighth grader; Rhondena,
a 12-year-old seventh grader; and Kendrick, an 11-year-old fifth grader.
She pointed out she's especially proud, considering what the family has
gone through, that Kelton was the first place winner in the Red Ribbon Week
poster contest.

Yet, Vicente said the family continues to struggle with the loss of Thomas.
She said her daughter's birthday is Feb. 9, but the daughter has trouble
celebrating it knowing that Thomas died last Feb. 1.

Vicente reminded the students to say no to drugs and alcohol.

"Just because you have friends who do drugs doesn't mean that you need to.
You have a mouth. You can say no," she said. "It's better to hang with
friends who don't do that."

* (Stan Bindell, former Observer editor, is journalism and radio teacher at
Hopi High School.)