Washington Tribe, Health Officials Place Warning Signs as Tribute to Dead Story-Date: 11:47 a.m. PST Sunday , August 31, 1997 Washington Tribe, Health Officials Place Warning Signs as Tribute to DeadIndian Country Today, Rapid City, S.D. Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News MARYSVILLE, Wash.--Sept. 1--More than 30 members of the Tulalip Tribe have lost their lives in alcohol-related deaths, 22 on the reservation, since 1976. Now, 18 families will honor their dead loved ones with ``Please Don't Drink and Drive'' signs posted on county roads at the accident scenes. The signs went up Aug. 25 -- 29. There will be 19 signs placed along Marine Drive, the main road that leads from the Tulalip Reservation to the tribal office. Marine Drive is approximately seven and a half miles long. The signs are part of a Snohomish Health District-Tulalip Tribe partnership project. Karen Fryberg, Tulalip Health Clinic manager, is committed to increasing awareness in the community about motor vehicle-related deaths on the Tulalip Reservation. ``I'm not naive by thinking that these signs are going to eliminate all drinking and driving on the reservation, but the signs will promote awareness in this community. Every single day people have to drive by and see those signs. When they go into town to get their beer they have to see those signs. The signs are a constant reminder of what devastation alcohol can bring to a family. I do think it will help cut down on some of the drunk driving,'' said Ms. Fryberg. According to George ``Bud'' Wessman, traffic safety investigation supervisor for Snohomish County Public Works Department of Traffic Operations, highway deaths are the number one killer in the United States each year and 40 percent of those are alcohol-related. ``Anything we can do to help reduce accidents, we'll give it a shot,'' said Mr. Wessman. ``Our young people especially need to get the message to stop drinking and driving. Our young people have no clue of how many tribal members we have lost. This community has seen too many traumatic accidents,'' he said. ``In 1988, three young members of the community died in a head-on collision. They had all been drinking. Because the car burned, it took dental records to identify the victims. It was a terrible accident. They all had kids under 5-years-old,'' said Ms. Fryberg. Snohomish Health District and the Tulalip Tribe have received a grant from the Department of Health to work together to promote health education and prevention programs. ``We are very grateful to the Snohomish Health District for funding the project,'' said Ms. Fryberg. ``Alcohol often is a contributing factor in fatal disease. The Health District is committed to spreading this message countywide through this program as well as through the Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Network and various treatment programs,'' said Kathy Fitzsimmons, the Snohomish Health District-Tulalip Partnership Public Health Nurse. ``We know it will be really hard on the families of the victims, they have to drive by and see those signs every single day. But the families all agreed to the signs. ``We will help the families that are not ready to deal with the grief,'' said Ms. Fryberg. Until recently the road where all the accidents took place, Marine Drive, was in terrible condition. ``The first part of July they started to fix the road. It now has been widened and guard rails and street lights have been put up along the road.'' ``You could never see on that road before. And since the street lights have been put up no fatalities have taken place,'' said Ms. Fryberg. The Snohomish Health District-Tulalip Partnership began in 1996 as a one-year Washington state Department of Health grant to further the development of partnerships between governmental agencies who have not previously worked together. The goal of the program is to work with the community to identify their needs and support programs to address those needs. A second year award has just been made to extend the program through June 1998. ----- Visit Indian Country Today on the World Wide Web at http://www.indiancountry.com/ ----- (c) 1997, Indian Country Today, Rapid City, S.D. Distributed by Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News. ------------------------------------------------------------