ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, February 25, 1996 TAG: 9602260060
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LISA APPLEGATE STAFF WRITER
Just a few miles from the college campus where Valerie Cole died from alcohol poisoning two weeks ago, most Radford High School students continue on with life - and partying - as they always have.
"People still drink as much as they used to," said senior Timothy Clark. "I know a lot of people who've gotten sick, probably should have been taken to the hospital. You just learn from it."
But for some, like Cole, it's too late to learn. Prevention and parental involvement, say area counselors, are the keys to preventing alcohol abuse from ever starting.
Many college students started experimenting with - and becoming dependent on - alcohol while still in high school. More than 40 percent of Virginia college students surveyed said they regularly drank by age 16, according to the Virginia State Council for Higher Education.
Betty Jones, the substance abuse and sexual assault counselor at Radford University, said students who began abusing alcohol in high school often cannot socialize or even approach the opposite sex without drinking when they reach college. "The younger a person starts drinking, the more their social skills are tied up in drinking," she said.
To try to keep students from starting, school systems find help from federal "drug-free school" funds, which are used in many ways.
Radford and Salem schools focus on prevention, particularly using health classes and DARE - Drug Abuse Resistance Education. Students who abuse alcohol are referred to outside sources, such as Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services in the New River Valley or Mount Regis Center in Roanoke.
In Roanoke County, a substance abuse coordinator oversees all student counseling within the school system.
Montgomery County brings in counselors to run individual and group sessions with middle and high school students who are abusing drugs or have an addicted family member.
Students are referred to the programs by teachers or parents who notice lethargy, anger or a change in behavior.
Duffy Ferguson, a Substance Abuse Services counselor, said she isn't sure why students start drinking in the first place. But she does have opinions on the issue.
"Personally, I think families are in general undergoing more stresses," she said. "Kids are growing up faster now than 10 [or] 20 years ago. Drinking and drug use is one of those rites of passage, and that's happening earlier now."
Active parental involvement is the most effective weapon, said Sally Bohland, a Christiansburg High School guidance counselor.
"I think it's natural for all parents that they don't want to think it's going to happen to [their child]. But they have to know what times we're living in," she said.
Don't be afraid, she advised, to "take the parental role and check on them." She added that parents should find out who their children hang out with and where they go on weekend nights. It's also important for parents to get to know other parents and share information, she said.
Valerie Cole's mother, Diane, said she and her husband made it clear that underage drinking was not allowed, and she advises other parents to do the same.
"Perhaps parents have lowered their expectations so much that kids don't even realize their parents don't want them to drink," she said. "It's easier to let them do what they want to do than take a stand.''
Cole's death, said Radford High School junior Heather Browne, "hasn't changed anyone. It might be different if we knew her."
But it did make junior Mandy Harless, who said she doesn't drink because of her religious beliefs, stop and think.
"I thought, 'Wow, she's only a few years older than me.' Life could be taken so young."
Staff writer Elissa Milenky contributed to this story.
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