Every month is Alcohol Awareness Month for teenagers
May 22nd, 2006 By Kevin Dayhoff
April was “Alcohol Awareness Month” and I wrote a couple of columns on the subject.
On Wednesday, April 19th, 2006, my Westminster Eagle column was: “April is for Alcohol Awareness, but issue of underage drinking lives with us daily.” Another link can be found here.
My Winchester Report post for April 25, 2006 was: “Community Leaders take action against underaged drinking .” Another link for that post is here.
For the Winchester Report posting, my Westminster Eagle editor, Jim Joyner, reworked the warning signs box, for which I was very appreciative.
I would think that the prom season is winding down and now many young adults are looking forward to the end of the school year or graduation ceremonies, err – parties.
Again, this brings with it another set of challenges for young adults who may be exposed to alcohol at these parties.
What can be troubling about this cocktail of alcohol and young inexperienced adults, who nevertheless, “know all the answers,” is the fact that a mistake with alcohol can be life altering or worse yet – fatal. When folks are young and think that they are invincible – the danger is even greater.
Pop culture and Hollywood romanticizes alcohol to the point that many young adults are not aware of the unromanticized and unsanitized pitfalls of alcohol abuse.
It does not necessary sink-in when rock stars, hollywood types and artists are all featured in their rock-bio-documentaries of having awkward moments and problems from drug and alcohol abuse.
After-all, young adults are invincible and “it won’t happen to them,”
In my experience, today’s teenagers are wonderful. Fortunately, you can hear this repeated throughout the community often.
From observing the children of our community involved in, for a few examples, scouting, the Children’s Chorus, 4-H and sports; we can confidently look forward to handing over the future leadership of our country to a very capable and responsible generation.
Former Westminster mayor Ken Yowen would sing the praises of today’s youth often in public and it was one of the many leadership attributes that I tried to emulate when I was an elected official.
Now that I have passed the half-century mark, it is asked in many casual conversations, “wouldn’t you like to be younger?” For right now, we’ll overlook that one thing this question means is that some folks think that I am old…
No way.
I grew up in a simpler and far different Carroll County and I would have no interest in trading in my childhood in the Westminster of the 1950s and 60s for all the tea in China. Sure, as a teenager in Carroll County in the 1960s, the community and our world were changing rapidly. There was turmoil. But it was still a wonderful place to grow-up. For example, I actually remember the 1960s.
Today, Carroll County is still a wonderful place to grow-up.
Often, it is fun to ask a teenager, what do you want to be when you grow-up? The answers are encouraging. So often the answers involve wanting to make a difference and contribution and make the world a better place.
With some segments of today’s teenagers, you’ll hear; I want to be an artist, a writer, a rock musician… or even president?
A writer like Dylan Thomas, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jack Kerouac or maybe even Edgar Allan Poe? Recently there was a movie about Truman Capote, which sparked much interest in Mr. Capote’s writings and life.
Who wants to be a star musician when they get older? Like the legendary blues singer, Billie Holiday? Steve Clark, the guitarist with Def Leppard? Or John Bonham, the drummer with Led Zeppelin? Who wants to be Roy Buchanan, the legendary guitar virtuoso and blues musician who lived much of his life right down the road in Washington, DC?
Who wants to be the artist, Jackson Pollock. It is reported that Mr. Pollack visited Clyfford Still in New Windsor on several occasions.
How about aspiring to be a famous actor like Errol Flynn or William Holden?
Maybe you want to be president of the United States, like our fourteenth president, Franklin Pierce?
All the folks just mentioned are some of the most talented individuals in our nation’s history. And they all have one thing in common, their lives and careers, (with the exception of Mr. Still,) were cut short because of alcohol poisoning or alcoholism.
The tragedy of their untimely death is only surpassed by the loss of their talent on the world. Especially in the instances of alcohol poisoning, the death was avoidable, unpleasant and unplanned. Duh.
Alcohol kills. Like - forever dead.
It only takes one bad experience. One bad day. One bad decision… Parental and interested adult attention to the challenges of teen drinking is critical. Keep prominently in mind, that good kids can make bad decisions and alcohol does not care who it kills or what are the extenuating circumstances.
How often have we heard: “I didn’t know there was going to be alcohol at the party.” Or, “I was only going to try a drink or two.” “I was only about a mile from home… I was late and I thought that I could drive that far without a problem.”
Recently there have been deaths at the hands of alcohol that have alarmed the community. This is not a problem “somewhere else.” It is here in Carroll County. “It” can happen to your child, your friend, your sister or brother. The responsibility to prevent a tragedy is no-one’s but yours. You. Me. Everybody’s.
In an article by Westminster Eagle writer, Heidi Schroeder on November 2, 2005, “Survey offers warning in teen trends,” in a December 2004 survey it was revealed; “46.9 percent of Carroll County seniors … said they had used beer or wine coolers in the past 30 days.
“Statewide, 38.5 percent of seniors had used beer or wine coolers in the past 30 days.
Mark Yount, substance abuse prevention coordinator for Carroll County, said that data is consistent with some of the trends they are seeing at Junction, the county's substance abuse treatment facility.
"Data will tell you one thing, but by the time you get the data things are already happening," Yount said.
Two significant trends in the survey that Yount said is reflected in the young people coming through Junction is alcohol and narcotic abuse.
Yount noted that culturally, alcohol is often separated from drugs in the mind of the community. But he warned, "Alcohol is not a benign substance.
"There is no safe level of alcohol for teens," Yount said.
Now, one cannot imagine that a teenager gets up in the morning and says to themselves, I have plans next week or this summer but this evening I am going to get together with some good friends, get wasted and die.
Heck, even if you don’t die from that one bad experience with alcohol, who wants to get together with friends next week or this summer and re-live drinking to the point where you vomit all over your friends all evening. Now isn’t that a special experience.
One of my favorite musicians was “chicken pickin,” blues, slide guitarist, Roy Buchanan – and his 1953 Telecaster guitar, named “Nancy.” Although he was born September 23, 1939 in California, he settled down in the Washington, DC area in the mid-1960s. He was living in Reston, Virginia when he passed away.
He gained a great deal of attention by way of a PBS documentary in the early 1970s called, “The Best Unknown Guitarist In The World.” He played a lot of the clubs in the DC area, often with “The Snakestretchers.” He toured nationally and internationally in the 1970s.
He recorded about 18 albums before his death. A number of albums have been released posthumously. Perhaps my favorite is “You’re Not Alone,” released in 1978 on Atlantic records.
Mr. Buchanan would be still greatly contributing to the music world if he had not had alcohol and substance abuse problems throughout most of his adult life. Apparently, untreated, the problems only got worse and certainly were not helpful in his marriage with his wife, Judy.
On August 13th, 1988, Mr. Buchanan got into another domestic dispute, after according to the Web-site, “Sweet Dreams of Roy Buchanan,” he came home “from the local bar with some male person, who then along with Roy acted up, so Judy threw them out, then called the cops. The cops picked up Roy and, the county sheriff tells Jim Buchanan, he was jovial when locked up. Sheriff says they didn't even arrest and book him and told him to sleep it off. A routine check supposedly found Roy hanging from his shirt in the cell…”
On August 14th, 1988, Roy Buchanan, perhaps one of the greatest guitar players ever, died in a police cell.
Next time, you have plans to go out and get wasted, pull out a couple Led Zeppelin CDs and play the "Immigrant Song" from “Led Zeppelin III;” "When the Levee Breaks" from “Led Zeppelin IV,” "Kashmir" or "Misty Mountain Hop."
These are the Led Zeppelin tunes that especially feature the talent of Led Zeppelin drummer, John Bonham.
As you crank it up, keep in mind, John Bonham died on September 25, 1980.
According to numerous published accounts, (I have used Wikipedia’s account because it was convenient and matched some old notes,) Led Zeppelin was rehearsing for the band’s upcoming U.S. tour when John Bonham passed away.
On the way to the recording studio, Mr. Bonham had a breakfast of about sixteen shots of vodka. “He then continued to drink when he arrived at the studio.” That evening, it “was rumored that he had a total of forty shots…” before he was taken to bed.
The next morning, at the age of 32, he was found dead. “The cause of death was asphyxiation caused by choking on his own vomit. A subsequent coroner inquest found no other drugs in Bonham's body.”
Bummer. Just think, this could be you.
Kevin Dayhoff writes from Westminster Maryland USA.
E-mail him at: kdayhoff@carr.org
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