By Stephanie Bunker
Moapa Valley Progress
The Nevada Community Prevention Coalition (NCPC) kicked off its new involvement in Moapa Valley with a Youth Festival on Thursday January 3. The NCPC organization, a grant funded Coalition to assist rural communities against drug and alcohol abuse, aimed the event at local kids ages 13-17. But the festival also attracted children both younger and older.
The Moapa Valley Future Farmers of America (FFA) was contracted to plan the games and activities for the carnival. Throughout the afternoon cupcake walks and table raffles were held. Video games like Guitar Hero, Just Dance, and other X Box games were set up on big screens for kids to play. There was also a bean bag toss, and ping pong games available for entertainment.
Another popular activity at the carnival was the drunk driving simulator, a plastic car set up with a computer screen inside. Laura Oslund with the Nye County Prevention Coalition was supervising the kids’ use of the simulator. She entered into the computer how many drinks they theoretically had and over how many hours. The computer then determined what their blood/alcohol level was and calculated just how much over the legal limit it would be.
As the operator drove the simulator, the computer recorded law breaking incidences or mistakes made. A few of those errors were crossing the center line, going off the side of the road, excess speed, and collisions with people cars or road hazards.
The simulator told how many seconds were driven and how many of those seconds were involved with breaking driving laws. Driving the simulator was frustrating for many of the young participants. It was difficult to stay inside the lanes, make turns, see pedestrians or other obstructions and avoid them.
Oslund observed that people that drink heavily are better at driving the simulator than those who don’t. She told the Progress that as awareness has been raised, less people have been dying from the cause of a drunk drivers.
“That’s why I do this,” Oslund said. “It helps raise awareness and people realize the effect it does have.”
FFA received funding from the coalition to put on the carnival. The local youth group will use that money to attend the state convention, soils nationals, and pay for FFA uniforms.
Although the FFA benefitted by receiving funding for participating, the event also helped the attendees think about the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse.
“It’s a good thing to raise awareness,” said local FFA President Kenna McMurray. “It makes people stop and think of who is a part of those things.”
The main reason for the carnival was to have kids complete a survey on what kind of substance abuse awareness efforts are needed in the community. The survey covered topics about drunk driving, alcohol and drug abuse, physical abuse, physical activity, bullying, suicide, and sexual behavior.
“The survey is a good start to show we are here to be a part of the community,” said NCPC Northern Coordinator, Debbie Oglesby, who is also a Logandale resident.
Fifty surveys were taken by teens during the festival. This provides a good start for the NCPC to become aware what kind of service can be provided, Oglesby said.
“The NCPC is funded to provide positive action to help kids make better decisions,” said Polly Manning, NCPC representative from Nye County who also attended the carnival.
