Sweeney, Berget win anti-meth contest

By GWEN ALBERS Western News Reporter

Two Libby High School juniors will share $3,000 for winning Lincoln County's Paint the State anti-meth contest.

Trista Berget and Alyssa Sweeney won with their painting on the side of the Mother Daughter Beauty Salon at 1122 Minnesota Ave. in Libby.

Troy's Lacy Shaver, 16, took second with "Tweeker Hotel" and won $2,000.

Dalton Massey, 16, also of Troy, won $1,000 for "Don't Dig Your Own Grave."

The Libby and Troy teens were among 650 students from each of the state's 56 counties to enter the contest sponsored by the Montana Meth Project. Some of their artwork can be found on banners, billboards and buildings in Libby and Troy.

The contest was a first, aimed at communicating the risks of meth use through works of art. It offered 13- to 18-year olds a way to get involved and compete for $6,000 in cash awards in each of the state's 56 counties.

Teens were asked to use the "Meth: Not Even Once" logo or other anti-meth themes to create a work of art visible by the general public.

Submissions include more than 65 projects containing tombstones, 380 banners and flags, 12 languages , 47 art vehicles, more than 20 depictions of the grim reaper, 78 T-shirts, two painted cows, one painted sheep, three videos, one slide show, and one commercial that aired on KTVQ-2 in Billings.

In Berget and Sweeney's artwork, a soccer ball represents life, and a chain represents the strong hold that meth has on a person once he starts abusing the drug. Since it is a thick chain that would not easily be broken, this represents the fact that meth is an extremely hard problem to "kick." The artwork included the words, "Think you can kick it, think again. Choose life not meth."

"I was shocked," Berget said about winning. "There was a lot of good artwork."

She plans to save the money for college. The daughter of Todd and Donna Berget is considering studying business at University of Montana at Missoula.

Alyssa, the daughter of Diana Sweeney, also was surprised.

"It was pretty cool," she said.

Ralph Stever, a substance abuse counselor with Flathead Valley Chemical Dependency Clinic, is pleased with the artwork he's seen in small and large communities throughout the state.

"I think what it did was stimulate conversation, needed conversation," Stever said about the contest. "It got the kids in Troy talking about it and parents talking about it."

"Kids are still trying the drug," he continued. "It's still very prevalent in the community. I wouldn't say it's as bad as it was three to five years ago. Our caseload at one point was 60 percent (meth related). Now it's 40 percent."

Stever also noted that six Lincoln County girls ages 12 to 16 admitted to being drunk they first time they tried meth.

"Everyone was drunk and everyone wasn't able to stop after their third use of the drug," he said. "They said 'the first time it was cool, the second time they wanted to try it again and the third time they wanted to know where they could get some."

The Montana Meth Project is a non-profit organization based in Missoula. It implements a range of advertising and community action programs to reduce methamphetamine use among Montana teens.