GUAM Police Department spokesman has said, “Guam is a party town.” Which means we like to live it up or eat, drink and be merry. Maybe this could account for the high rates of alcohol and tobacco consumption which drive other behaviors such as teen pregnancies, as Dr. Shieh of Coalition 21 has suggested.
Kids emulate adults. Kids are not going to “eat a lot,” drink alcoholic beverages and start smoking if the access to these items or more importantly, if the adults in close proximity to them do not gorge their food down, not liking leftovers (as Helen Middlebrooke opined in her column in the Pacific Sunday News on Dec 17th), and eat huge quantities (check out the portion at some of Guam’s fine eateries). They, the children of Guam are also not going to get hooked (maybe they will experiment) with alcohol and tobacco if adults don’t.
And these are the same folks who are called to go vote to decide if 18-21 year olds should not be able to drink? The decision or verdict should come as no surprise. How many parents will look themselves in the mirror and say that they have failed to bring their kids up properly? Very few. Most will say, it is someone else’s fault. Blame teachers etc.
Maybe this is also why our students lag nationwide when they have tremendous potential. PROOF: When you have a candidate who has a terminal degree from a new-ivy league status school in USC, but the populace likes to “party-on,” and has a “who-cares-about-tomorrow” attitude, what do you think the verdict will be? Let’s face it. We don’t like to be told what to do, what’s good for us and we like to think we seem to have it about right.

MATT PHILIPS
Mangilao, Guam