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About Siletz news / (Siletz, OR) 199?-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 1, 2000)
TRIBAL PROGRAM NEWS Ten Reasons Why I Don’t Drink Alcohol by Ashley Taylor-Bellamy Great-grandfather - Manual Rilatos 1. Responsibility Just last year, the oldest girl in my family graduated and moved to college. She was the role model in my family. It seemed like anything she did was what I wanted to do. When she left, she told me I was the role model now. She gave this position to me instead of to her sister, who is older than I am. At age 14, she drank alcohol, did drugs, stole a car, ran away on numerous occasions, and that’s just the beginning. I’m the one who shows the little kids how to live “large” without alcohol. When they’re down, it’s my duty to lift them back up. I'm their ideal, the one they look up to now. And I’m not going to let alcohol ruin their wonderful lives. It’s my turn. 2. Future In the future, I would like to get a scholarship for playing basketball. I want to go to a good college, marry a responsible man, have three kids, and adopt two more. How do you suppose I will complete these goals? I will complete these goals by working hard and staying away from alcohol. If I get intoxicated all the time, I will not be able to fulfill my challenging goals. My brain cells would be toast. My life would fall apart. My future would be over. 3. Death This is just one of the results of alcohol. Let’s say you go to a party and all your friends are there. They’re there to drink, not just any kind of drink, alcohol. You have never tasted alcohol before; you really didn’t think about it before. You think to yourself, my friends are doing it, I guess it would be all right. At the end of the night, you’ve had seven bottles of beer and you are really drunk. You take the keys out of your pocket, unlock the door, and hop into the brand new Jeep Wrangler you just got for your 16,h birthday. You turn on the engine and pull out of your friend’s house. Then all of a sudden, you hear someone honk their horn loudly. You hear the screeching of brakes, glass shattering everywhere, and you black out. As you lie in the road with blood all around, you ask yourself, “Why did I do this? Why did I die?” 10 rr Lisa Brown, Sam Lynch, Tasha Rilatos, Ryan Howell, Ashley Taylor-Bellamy, Jermaine Williams, Andrew Whetstone, Corey Howell, Coby Retherford, and Maggie Norton receive a $675 check from the Siletz Tribal Charitable Ad-Hoc Committee. The money wil^fund^ ^ohpl- and drug-free dances sponsored by the Siletz Prevention Program. 4. Taste and 5. Expensive Other good reasons to not drink alcohol are because it tastes nasty and it’s rather expensive. It doesn’t taste appealing. Well, perhaps to some, but not to me. It’s expensive; some people spend thousands of dollars on alcohol each year. I think it’s a waste. 6. Addiction You could become addicted to alcohol if you drink too much of it daily. Many people become addicted to alcohol if they don’t drink responsibly. Many people are addicted to alcohol. Most of them have problems with anger. You also may die early if you drink because it shuts down your body. 7. Health Another reason I don’t want to drink alcohol is because I have seen what is does to my family members. For instance, my uncle needs a liver transplant because he drank too much alcohol. He probably will never end up getting it because drinkers and dopers who need transplants are at the end of the list, except for celebrities. A poor, drunken, dying man like my uncle would never be chosen. 8. Respect Alcoholics have no respect for themselves. They have no respect for others. That’s another one of the many reasons why I don’t want to drink alcohol. 9. Fun I like to play music, play basketball, ride my bike, and walk my dog. If I drink alcohol, I wouldn’t ever have the time to do any of these things. I would either be drinking, experiencing a hangover, vomiting, or sleeping. I don’t want to do that. I want to be a regular 13-year-old girl. 10. Illegal It’s illegal for a minor to drink alcohol. If I was caught drinking alcohol, I would get a M.I.P. (minor in possession). If I was caught driving, I might get my driver’s license taken away, or even my car. I might even go to juvenile hall if I do this too much. The reasons why I don’t want to drink alcohol are simple. It’s because I have better things to do. I don’t want to waste my time and money on a bottle of early death. It doesn’t seem logical. Why do people do it? That’s something I will never know.
