DATE: Sunday, November 2, 1997              TAG: 9710310233

SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON   PAGE: 11   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY WARREN WARSAW, CORRESPONDENT 

                                            LENGTH:   45 lines

TALKS, ENTERTAINMENT SPREAD ANTI-DRUG MESSAGE TO YOUTHS

The words spoken by the teen-ager were sobering. ``I abused marijuana at age 11. By 14, I was addicted to everything and joined a gang. I'm 17 and three weeks ago, I tried to commit suicide.''

Beau Albert, a Hampton resident, bore his soul to a crowd at the fifth annual Virginia Drug-Free Day at Mount Trashmore.

For Albert, a newly drug-free member of Teen challenge, the message to parents and children alike was simple. ``Drugs don't help,'' Albert said. ``I've been there and it's not worth it.''

But while the lesson was a somber one, it didn't cast a shadow on Saturday's sunny festivities. Serenading the crowd, Miss Tidewater Natasha Halsey and Miss Virginia Beach Meghan Shanley sang everything from modern gospel to contemporary pop to country music. And sharing the stage with them, the Star-Spangled Singers, a six-girl musical group, added patriotic color to the afternoon with ``Good Bless America.''

Face painting, karaoke acts, police K-9 squads and anti-drug organizations rounded out the day's theme of drug prevention and awareness.

Still in its infancy, Virginia's Drug-Free Day has attracted more and more publicity and support since its inception in 1993. Its seeds go back 10 years before when in 1983 Evelyn Hill, a military widow, was outraged over an incident where a military person, after overdosing on drugs, stabbed and killed a fellow service member.

``I thought that if the drug problem has gotten this bad in the military, the country itself must be in serious danger,'' Hill said. After several years on her own crusading against drugs, she contacted her friend, Del. Bob McDonnell from the 84th District. He introduced a bill to make the last Saturday in October Virginia's Drug-Free Day. Gov. George Allen signed it into law in 1993.

For five hours Saturday about 200 people were entertained and enlightened. As Albert said, ``I wish I had something like this to attend when I was growing up. I wouldn't have been where I am now.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by WARREN WARSAW

The Star-Spangled Singers, from left, are Kristin Hilton, Richelle

Alagahan, Brittany Hilton, Whitney Morgan, Jamie Sipler and

Elizabeth Hiltz.

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