DATE: Friday, August 22, 1997               TAG: 9708210078

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E15  EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY SARA BAKER, HIGH SCHOOL CORRESPONDENT 

                                            LENGTH:   49 lines

COMICS CHARACTER TACKLES TEEN-AGE ISSUES

GREG EVANS, creator of the Luann comic strip, is using the character to teach teens about safe sex and the dangers of drug abuse and smoking.

The Luann Health Series is 12 pamphlets in comic strip form, each dealing with a specific topic.

Teenology took the pamphlets to Windsor High School teens who critiqued their content and effectiveness.

Many, like Shirley Seader, 16, a rising junior, found the information helpful. ``The Luann Health Series will be very effective, because sometimes a teen-ager feels as if they cannot talk to someone about teen issues,'' Shirley said. ``This way they will not have to talk to anyone and, more than likely, have their questions answered.''

Others felt that the effort to speak to the often difficult teen-ager audience on serious health issues was ineffective.

``I don't think that the pamphlets will be very effective, because most teen-agers have already made up their minds on whether or not they would do drugs or have sex,'' said Noah Fleming, 15, a rising sophomore.

Along with the warnings about sex and smoking, the pamphlets try to reinforce the benefits of healthy eating habits and exercise for adolescents.

Each pamphlet ties in peer influence and offers valuable ways to deal with peer pressure. They try to give teens the tools to ``just say no.''

``Those topics are very important to teen-agers because they face those types of problems and situations in everyday life,'' said Jackie Rawls, 16, a rising senior. ``I think it was a clever way of giving advice without preaching to teens.''

Luann was chosen by Journeyworks Publishing, the company that distributes the pamphlets, because of the character's appeal to teens. The strip appears in more than 300 newspapers worldwide, including The Virginian-Pilot. It often ranks high in reader surveys.

Not all Windsor teens are convinced that Luann's popularity will lead their peers down a righteous path.

``No matter how much parents, committees and other people preach about how drugs, alcohol, etc. are bad for you, if a teen-ager wants to do it, he or she will,'' said Corey Boone, 17, a rising senior.

However, he conceded, ``These pamphlets certainly could not hurt and might be able to help some teens make the right decisions.'' MEMO: Sara Baker is a rising senior at Windsor High School. ILLUSTRATION: Each Luann Health Series pamphlet ties in peer

influence and offers valuable ways to deal with peer pressure. They

try to give teens the tools to ``just say no.''

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