Fort Smith (Oct 25/04) - Fort Smith hopes to turn recent talk about combatting vandalism, drug abuse and other problems into action.

An informal committee met Oct. 12 as a follow-up to a community meeting in September attended by about 100 people.

Mayor Peter Martselos says the role of the committee is to develop ideas on how the community can fight vandalism and other problems.

"But it has to involve the entire community to try to work out the problems," Martselos says.

The public meeting in September focused mainly on vandalism, but also dealt with drug and alcohol abuse, family violence, suspicious fires, stabbings and other problems plaguing the South Slave town, including drug dealers coming in from other communities.

Martselos says one parent called him to say a 12-year-old child had been approached on the street and offered hard drugs.

Containment first

The mayor says the problems can't be solved 100 per cent, but the community can try to contain them.

"I'm optimistic we can go forward," he says.

The Oct. 12 meeting involved about 16 people, representatives of various organizations, including social services, town council, Salt River First Nation, the high school, Uncle Gabe's Friendship Centre, RCMP and the town's recreation department.

"There was very much a theme that this is not just a youth issue," Martselos says. "This is a community issue."

The new committee is chaired by Josie Weninger.

"I'm really encouraged by the fact this group has come together," says Weninger.

She says another meeting is planned for the beginning of November.

"It's wonderful to have a list of ideas, but how do you make them a reality?" she asked.

The next step is to the take the ideas to the community for its input and to figure out how to get money to pay for them.

Weninger, the field superintendent of Wood Buffalo National Park, says she became involved because of concern about suicides in Fort Smith.

"Some people might see the issues as overwhelming," she says. "But some bodies need to roll up their sleeves and work on it."

The committee has discussed a number of ideas to deal with the problems.

They include encouraging role models for youth, offering rewards for good deeds by youth, providing more activities and helping families.

"Coming up with all these recommendations was a huge success," Martselos says.

Crystal Coleman, a committee representative of youth and Salt River First Nation, said she believes youth are unfairly blamed for a lot of the problems in the community.

"A lot of it are adults too drunk to know what they're doing."

She says there is a willingness among most youth to be part of the solution.

Coleman, a 22-year-old mother of two young children, is concerned about the illegal drugs coming into the community. She says she wants to create a safer community for her children to grow up in.

Suggested ways to stop vandalism

Here are highlights of the ideas being proposed by an informal committee on vandalism and other problems in Fort Smith:

* needs assessment by qualified consultant

* rewards programs for good deeds by youth

* workshop on drugs for adults

* forum by and for youth

* increased activities at arena and recreation centre

* move teen centre downstairs in the rec centre to create more privacy for youth and reduce noise for other users of the centre

* classes in art and carving

* hold meeting with junior and senior high school students

* more proactive approach and more contacts by RCMP with students

* give youth responsibility for taking care of youth centre

* find funding to assist with policing at night

* more people to work with families

* raise funds to allow more young people to participate in sports and organized activities

* establish community board to assist families with people problems

* celebrate a month with theme of family activities

* establish a youth help line

* promote community role models

* hold discussion on community image

* encourage youth communications

* prepare proposal to seek funding for initiatives