Networks advocates for safe WHS prom

Wahkiakum High School students will celebrate the end of the year and impending graduation ceremonies this Saturday with the tradition known as Prom. The Wahkiakum Community Network again this year will be placing stickers and bottle tags throughout the county.

“The Bottle Tagging Project is modeled after MADD’s Sticker Shock campaign,” said Lea Sealund, Wahkiakum Community Network Director. MADD is the acronym for Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

The program started last year and in one day, over 1900 bottle tags were distributed to area retailers. The stickers and cards provide the warning; anyone who makes alcohol accessible to minors will face a fine of $5000 and or one year in a county jail.

“Last year,” she said, “we had full participation from every retail outlet in our county.”

The project targets adults to make them aware of the dangers of youth using alcohol. Thursday and Friday of this week, groups will be out in force to distribute the tags. The goal is to visit 100 percent of the retail outlets in Wahkiakum County.

This year, in an additional effort to prevent underage drinking, booths run by student leaders have been set up during lunch. The students will be gathering signatures from peers making the pledge not to drink and drive.

“The effort is targeting prom weekend because it is traditionally a heavy drinking period in our community for youth,” Sealund said. “The most recent Healthy Youth Survey data reflects that a large number of our students report riding in cars with drivers that have been drinking.”

Students will be provided with pledge cards where they can name two people they can call incase they or someone they are riding with becomes impaired. When students sign the pledge, their picture will be taken and a public service advertisement will be developed on all student commitments.

Wahkiakum Principal Loren Davis said he is pleased with the efforts made by the network with the pledge tables. “I think it’s great,” he said.

If a student is caught drinking at prom, there are consequences he or she will face, he said. Students are aware of the policies that are set in place as they are listed in the student handbook. “We discourage drinking and driving and use of other drugs throughout the year, not just dances,” he said.