April is Alcohol Awareness Month and to help raise awareness the Sallisaw Youth Coalition, a part of the Sallisaw New Opportunities Working (NOW) Coalition, is writing on park and school sidewalks about the misuse of alcohol and statistics about people who have been involved in alcohol related accidents, Sharon Day, preventionist with the NOW Coalition, said.

Members are putting facts about drinking alcohol on the two Sallisaw walking trails, on Iola Street and McGee, and at Indian Capital Technology Center in Sallisaw.

“Because drinking and driving is the leading cause of death among Oklahomans under the age of 30, and each year about 200 people are killed in alcohol-related traffic crashes the youth felt like this was a message that needed to be spread,” Day said.

“It is their hope that it will make people stop and think before they drink and get behind the wheel to drive,” Day said.

Day said, “Our mission is to change the perception of the risk of alcohol in the community. Those under 16 who use alcohol are more likely to use hard drugs in the future.”