Volume XXX, Number 11
November 27, 2009
Brighton Celebrates Red Ribbon Week By Just Saying No
BY RACHEL BUXTON - Staff Reporter
BRIGHTON — Brighton community members,
Tribal departments, faculty members and students of
Pemayetv Emahakv met at the Field Offi ce the morning
of Oct. 19 to kick off Brighton’s Red Ribbon
Week celebration with a drug free march through the
reservation.
Students decorated stop signs and mailboxes
with red ribbons and chanted this year’s slogan “Drug
Free is the Key” to help get the message across.
“We use the red ribbon as a symbol to saying
no to drugs,” Valerie Marone, Family Services Dept.
events coordinator said.
The week continued with many drug free events
including a youth poster decorating contest, door
decorating contest and T-shirt decorating contest. All
posters, doors and T-shirts focused on the “Drug Free
is the Key” theme.
The community enjoyed a BMX bike show presented
by the group Wheels of Freestyle based out of
California. Along with demonstrating bike tricks the
three-man group delivered the message to stay drug
free.
Marone said the BMX presentation was just
something different to incorporate in the week. She
added that the group has become so popular, especially
during Red Ribbon Week, that they had to be
booked a year in advance.
On Oct. 20 employees and community members
were out and about wearing red for the “Wear Red
Day,” showing their support for the cause.
Red Ribbon Week extended out not just to the
adults and youth, but also to the little ones at the preschool.
On Oct. 21 the preschoolers got a very special
visit from the members of the Family Services Dept.
who brought a clown to entertain the students.
Children got to ride around the parking lot in
a train along with getting their faces painted. Girls
turned into princesses as boys got tattoos of spiders.
The students also feasted on freshly made cotton
candy.
The Seminole Police Dept. was on hand, along
with McGruff the Crime Dog, to help spread the very
important message of just saying no to drugs.
“All the statistics show and we just know from
watching the news the children are starting at a
younger and younger age,” Marone said. “They are being approached at a younger and younger age so it’s
really important to build them up.”
The Family Services Dept. started to wrap the
weeklong celebration up with a movie presentation of
“Smashed: Toxic Tales of Teens and Alcohol” at the Veterans’
Building on Oct. 22.
“It’s very important to know there are consequences
to drinking and driving,” Marone said to the youth.
“You are not invincible. I really want you to take to
heart what you see in the fi lm.”
heart what you see in the fi lm.”
The movie graphically portrayed the dangers and
consequences of drugs and alcohol. The fi lm shows
young adults in the emergency room in critical condition
due to the effects of using drugs and alcohol while
driving.
On Oct. 27 the Brighton community got a chance to
hear a fi rsthand account of how alcohol affected Renee
Napier’s life.
“I’m trying to make something positive out of
something negative,” Napier said.
Napier lost her daughter to a drunk driver in 2002
and has made it her mission in life to help educate not
only the youth but also the adults about the consequences
of drinking and driving by telling her powerful story
and putting on display the car her daughter was killed in.
“Our kids can educate us,” Napier said. “As adults
we need to realize that we are role models for children.
Brighton’s Red Ribbon Week came to an end with
a candlelight vigil after Napier’s presentation in remembrance
of all those who the community has lost to the
ongoing drug and alcohol battle.
“We’ve been working really hard this week, but
it’s not just this week,” Marone said. “It’s a whole year
through thing we try to do to prevent drugs and alcohol
in the community. It’s a real positive thing that the
Brighton community comes together to really reinforce
‘Just Say No to Drugs,’ not just for the youth, but the
whole community.”