MADD director speaks in Siloam Springs
Posted on Wednesday, July 23, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/bcdr/News/64071/
SILOAM SPRINGS — Teresa Belew, Arkansas executive director of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, was on hand at Siloam Springs High School on Tuesday night to present a call to action for the community.
Belew’s message was simple. She was asking the community of Siloam Springs to help put an end to underage drinking. To help drive her message home, she brought statistics for underage drinking occurring in Benton County.
In a survey of more than 700 Benton County high-school seniors, 71. 8 percent admitted they had tried alcohol at least once, with 26. 1 percent confessing to binge drinking and 18. 7 percent revealing that they had even been drunk at school. Of the seniors surveyed, 15. 4 percent said they use alcohol on a regular basis.
To make sure her message sticks in the hearts and minds of the parents in attendance, Belew brought with her photos of those who have lost their lives in drunk-driving motor-vehicle accidents, including the picture of Amanda Hobbs.
Hobbs, 14, lost her life on a Sunday afternoon drive to McDonald’s when the car she was in was hit by a drunk driver who was going more than 100 mph and who had previously been arrested for drunken driving, Belew said.
The Hobbs family was the first family Belew helped when she began working for MADD. She saw the family through their daughter’s funeral, and through the trial and the drunk driver’s parole-board hearing. To this day, Belew keeps a photo of Amanda Hobbs on her desk to remind her why she fights as hard as she does to stop drunk driving and underage drinking.
According to Belew, getting teens to stop drinking begins with adults. “ It really is talking to adults about the consequences and about their attitudes about young people drinking, ” Belew said, and she has the statistics to back up her point. Of the Benton County high-school seniors who admitted to drinking, 48 percent of them said they got the alcohol from a known adult.
Some of the pointers Belew gave to those in attendance at the town hall meeting included making sure that elected officials have the political will to enforce the law; supporting programs that help teens who are already involved in drinking; and encouraging parents to talk to their children about drinking.
Belew’s was a message of prevention overall as she encouraged everyone in attendance to discuss the problem of underage drinking and to approach it as a community issue rather than a private matter.
“ A legislator once told me, ‘ It is never enough for you people, ’ and I told him, ‘ I know, because it is always too many. ’ When (underage drinking and drinking and driving are ) all preventable, it is always too many, ” Belew said.