Gordon Clay here. This year 115 Brooking seniors wrote an essay about the impact alcohol has had on their lives or the people around them, up from 65 last year. 25 of these essays were selected to be printed in a booklet with each author receiving a gift certificate from Fred Meyer. The nine best essays are being published in an issue of The Pilot this month as well as receiving a gift certificatre from Wild River Pizza. The grand prize winner will be announced April 29th and will receive a check for $100 from TheCitizensWhoCare.org. which will post all 25 essays on its web site. Booklets of the past three contests are available at Words & Pictures with this group of essays due in early May. Get one and read about the issue of alcohol through the eyes of our students.

As we speak, prevention and treatment programs in Oregon are continuing to see funding cuts. There is legislation in Salem to increase the beer tax to fund some of these programs. At 8 cents, Oregon is tied with Colorado for the fourth lowest beer tax in the nation and is one-third that of our Washington neighbors and one-thirteenth that of Alaska at $1.07. Oregon hasn't voted for an increase in over 30 years and our treatment programs are suffering because of it. Contact your state legislature and let them know that it's time to find a way to restore funding to drug and alcohol treatment programs and that the beer tax is a good place to start.

As we approach the end of the school year, the US Department of Transportation estimates that 5,200 teens will be injured and 48 killed nationwide on prom weekend. The same number applies to graduation night. Keep your teens safe. These nights should be the best nights of their life - not the last.