Diné youth take steps to curb underage drinking

Stickers were placed on alcoholic beverages warning to not purchase or give alcohol to underage individuals. — © 2009 Gallup Independent / Karen Francis

Copyright © 2009
Gallup Independent
By Karen Francis
Diné Bureau

SMITH LAKE — McKaela Arviso, Korletta Henry and Blaine Bates, 18, are trying to prevent underage drinking around their community of Crownpoint.

The three teenagers joined a group that gathered Wednesday evening to begin the Sticker Shock Project — attaching stickers to paper bags and alcoholic beverages warning adults that it is illegal to buy and give alcohol to underage individuals.

“We’re trying to prevent underage drinking ... because there’s a lot of underage drinking in Crownpoint,” Henry, 17, said as she put stickers on paper bags.

They are part of a group of young people in Crownpoint who are fed up with underage drinking in the area and are organizing with other local resources to do something about it, including the Indian Health Service, Navajo Nation Police Department, Crownpoint/Thoreau Youth in Action, and the McKinley County DUI Council.

“We knew it was a project that people in other communities do,” McKaela Arviso, 17, said.

Ryan Anderson, 20, got involved in the initiative through Project Northland.

“It’s something that needs to be done,” he said. “It’s taken our lives and it needs to stop.”

The first store that the group worked with for the Sticker Shock Project is the Mataya’s at Smith Lake. Manager Nancy Lewis said that it was great to see the participation from the youth and the Navajo Nation Police from Crownpoint.

“I think it’s a good opportunity for the awareness of everyone in the community that buying for young kids is a no-no,” Lewis said.

Marshall Arviso of the TCA/Diné Local Collaborative No. 15 said that the awareness efforts are starting to show results. This is the second year that the TCA/Diné Local Collaborative has been funded.

“The kids are becoming more aware of it,” he said.

Statistics provided by Indian Health Service show that the percentage of middle school students who say that it is “sort of” to “very” easy to get alcoholic drinks decreased from 27 percent in 2000 to 17 percent in 2005.

The percent of students who ever had a drink of alcohol other than a few sips also declined — from 48 percent in 1997 to 31 percent in 2005.

“We’re doing something right,” Marge Werito of the Division of Public Health said.

Karen Arviso of the Crownpoint IHS health promotion department said that the group is planning to go to more local stores to post the stickers.

She added that the Youth in Action group will be attending Indian Day in Santa Fe to advocate for the initiative. Some of the group members also want to ask the Navajo Nation Council to pass tougher laws for those who buy alcohol for underage individuals, she said.

Navajo Nation Police Officer Gladys Antone said that more jail space is needed to help address the problem from the public safety side.

Right now there are only about 30 beds for male offenders and 12 for women offenders at the Crownpoint facility, she said.

The Navajo police in Crownpoint support the effort to promote awareness to the problems of underage drinking, and are normally on-hand for projects and education, Karen Arviso said.