Area alcohol problems getting worse

By Natasha Kaye Johnson
Diné Bureau

CROWNPOINT — It does not happen as frequently as it used to, but children as young as 9-years old can still be seen driving their drunk parents around.

Michelle Brown-Yazzie, consultant and New Mexico tribal DWI Coordinator with the Department of Transportation, said the alcohol problems in tribal communities have worsened, and many tribal leaders are desperate to create a partnership with the state to address DWI's.

In 2006, Governor Bill Richardson signed an executive order to establish the Governor's State-Tribal Task Force. The bill was ratified by the Navajo Nation Council earlier this month. With the bill fairly new, ideas are being brain-stormed on just how to create a strong partnership.

The Task Force will be meeting for the first time on May 10th and 11th in Albuquerque, but a dialogue on what the Task Force could possibly do was discussed Wednesday afternoon at the Navajo Local Collaborative #15 meeting.

As part of the initiative, the Navajo Nation Department of Public Safety recently received funding from the state for two Navajo Nation officers who will be assigned to focus strictly on DWI's in New Mexico. One officer will be based in Shiprock and the other in Crownpoint.

"What we're doing is increasing and focusing on enforcement," Brown-Yazzie said.

The funding for the officers is only for a year, but Brown-Yazzie is hopeful that it will continue steadily for the next four years. The Navajo Nation Department of Public Safety is also looking into possibly getting funding for a third officer to be based in Window Rock, since the area is also close to New Mexico.

"We want those officers to be visible," Brown-Yazzie said.

Implementing more programs on the Nation that target youth was suggested. Studies have shown that alcohol prevention programs geared towards elementary children as young as kindergarten have shown to be effective. Such programs teach children how alcohol affects the brain.

"That's the new focus in New Mexico," said Brown-Yazzie.

The state is also looking into the possibility of having DWI offenders serve mandatory time at a treatment center for a first DWI offense, rather than waiting until a second or third offense.

"When someone is arrested for the first time, they will go to this facility," she said.

Brown-Yazzie also addressed the jail-space issue on the Navajo Nation, and said the state is looking into the possibility of booking DWI offenders at the San Juan County jail facility since their capacity usually hovers around 50 percent. Some attendees raised questions about what the cost would be to the Nation.

"We're hoping that would be a state funded partnership," she said.

Finding ways for the public to become more accessible to officers is also goal of the initiative. Since officers cannot be notified of drunk drivers immediately due to limited cell phone coverage on the Nation, they usually don't get word of a drunk driver until it is too late.

"There's some dead spaces in the state," said Brown-Yazzie. "They would like to close that gap."

By doing this, Brown-Yazzie said the "Pound DWI", which has proven to be successful in Albuquerque, will be more effective on the reservation.

Creating more Public Service Announcements, like the television commercial that specifically targeted Native American communities and DWI's, is another goal. The PSA was directed by well-known director Chris Eyre, and featured actor Gary Farmer as the drunk driver who was stopped from driving by an elderly Native American woman at the end of the commercial.

Brown-Yazzie said the state was nervous of criticism about the commercial, but tribal communities are embracing the commercial and are asking that similar spots be made. Other states, she said, are also asking to borrow the PSA.

"We really have to face reality and statistics," she said. "People are dying two to three times higher than any ethnicity in the nation."

"We still need to educate our children and communities," she said. "Yeah we had tough lives, and a hard history, but we still have to more forward in the future."

The idea of sharing tribal information on background and license information was pitched to some Pueblo tribes, Michelle-Brown said, but there have been concerns that it could possibly infringe on tribal sovereignty. Since the idea is still in discussion, she did not want to further elaborate on concerns raised by tribal leaders.

"Information sharing sometimes is a touchy issue," she said.