Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, May 4, 1990 TAG: 9005040478
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARGARET CAMLIN NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
At his latest pit-stop, Robert Anastas spent Thursday morning at Christiansburg High School. His message was clear and simple: "You drink, you drive, and you die."
But first he got the crowd laughing, mainly by teasing a boy named Jeff who will probably never sit in the front row again.
"Jay-uff," Anastas called him. `Boy do you kids talk funny down here!"
The Massachusetts-based educator then turned serious and warned against the "death-trap" of not communicating with parents.
From kindergarten to eighth-grade, mom is so proud of you she tapes all your reports on the refriger Anastas ator, he said to the crowd. But by the time high school rolls around, "you become strangers, acquaintances."
He urged the teens to sign a copy of SADD's "Contract For Life," and have their parents sign it, too.
The contract is a formal agreement that teens will phone their parents for help at any hour, from any place, if they're stuck without a sober ride home.
And mom or dad agrees to go and pick up his or her child - no questions asked - or pay for a taxi ride home. There's not to be an argument at the time, the contract says.
The parent also agrees to seek safe, sober transportation if he or she has been drinking.
Anastas believes the thousands of SADD chapters across the country can be credited for the dramatic decline in the number of alcohol-related traffic fatalities among teen-agers.
In the early 1980s, between 6,000 and 7,000 teen-agers died each year from alcohol-related car crashes. This past year, 2,170 teens were killed in alcohol-related crashes, he said.
But the number is still too high. Anastas insisted teens be vigilant and take responsibility for one another. If someone's had too much to drink, see that he or she gets a safe ride home.
Anastas had to catch a noon flight from Roanoke, so he couldn't stay very long to hear about the work and accomplishments of the SADD chapters at the county's four high schools.
But at a reception upstairs he mingled with students for a few minutes and seemed delighted to meet a girl from Shawsville High School, Angel Epperly, who's written a rap song about the stupidity of driving under the influence.
And he was glad to hear that Shawsville, Blacksburg and Christiansburg high schools are sponsoring alcohol- and drug-free after-prom parties this year.
by CNB