500 AT DRUG ABUSE CONFERENCE; HUMORIST RETURNS TO ALMA MATER TO TELL OF HIS EXPERIENCES

Michael Pritchard has spent his life helping kids.

A standup comedian and former juvenile officer, Pritchard returned to his alma mater Southeast Missouri State University Wednesday to speak at a substance abuse conference.

About 500 professionals in the treatment of alcohol and drug abuse from throughout Southeast Missouri attended the conference at the University Center. The university's health and leisure studies department helped sponsor the conference.

Later in the day, he was honored at a university reception, where he was presented with an Alumni Certificate of Merit.

A 1973 graduate of Southeast, the nationally known humorist is noted for his ability to get students to talk frankly about their attitudes toward drugs, alcohol, personal relationships and peer pressure.

Pritchard, who has done a number of voices for cartoons, entertained the audience for about an hour Wednesday morning with his special brand of humor, centered around a serious message about the need to care for youth.

He described himself as being "unconscious" as a student at Southeast.

Pritchard said that even in elementary school he used to make fun of people. "I was the king of putting people down."

But he said he has changed.

Pritchard has spoken throughout North America to students, from grade school through college level, and before civic, religious, criminal justice, corporate and professional associations. He has toured nationally with Norman Cousins, participating in The Healing Power of Humor Conference.

In 1987, Pritchard was selected as master of ceremonies at a celebration that attracted more than 80,000 people in Candlestick Park when Pope John Paul II visited San Francisco. Pritchard gained additional prominence in 1987 with the airing of his PBS pilot program, "The Power of Choice." The program was highly acclaimed, and from it, a 12-part series of programs on "The Power of Choice" was completed for the PBS network's 1988- 1989 season.

In his days as a juvenile officer in St. Louis and then San Francisco, Pritchard dealt with troubled youth. But he always managed to find humor in his job.

He said he remembers one time when a young suspect was in a lineup and the victim of the crime walked by. The suspect jumped up and identified the woman as the one he had robbed.

Pritchard said he told the suspect that the victim is supposed to pick the offender out of the lineup, not the other way around.

As a father, Pritchard said, he has had to deal with the pressures of being a parent. "It's okay for us to be afraid as parents," said Pritchard, noting that children "don't arrive with a manual."

He said, "Everything about parents is learning to let go."

Children today are faced with a lot of choices, he said. Pritchard said that in his day there were three basic channels on television.

Now there are 38 cable television channels, 108 channels on satellite and 60,000 VCR movies to choose from. "There are 144 types of cereal. And these are the little choices they face every day.

"Sometimes they don't know they are making choices; they are unconscious like we were when we were that age."

Pritchard said society needs to care about its children. "It's about community, it's about commitment and about caring."

He maintained, "We've taught our kids to compete so much that they have forgotten to contribute."

Pritchard said he listens "all across the country to kids."

It's important, he said, to teach youngsters to have self-esteem. "We need to teach our children a sense of the spiritual, of believing in yourself, in your own abilities."

America's youth faces some enormous problems. The three leading causes of death among teenage boys are drunk-driving accidents, suicide and shootings, he said.

"We've got the cork on a very badly damaged steam kettle."

Pritchard said, "Generations of our youngsters out here are really in pain."

Many youngsters appear cynical these days, he said. "Cynicism is indeed nothing more than scar tissue from their pain."

Pritchard told the audience, "I have seen some of the toughest and most angry kids."

But he insisted that all children have a wealth of potential, although people don't always recognize it.

There's a tendency to view the negative side of things, he said. If the light bulb was invented today, he said, news reports would focus on the problems it would cause the candle industry.

"Life is a roller coaster," he said. "One human being's sunset is another human being's sunrise."

It's important, he said, to have a sense of humor and be able to laugh. "You don't stop laughing because you grow old; you grow old because you stop laughing."

He said it's easy for professionals who deal with drug and alcohol abuse to become frustrated, to feel "we are rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic."

But, he said, "The truth is every human being makes a difference."

He told the conference participants that they at times provide "the only love that some people get in their lives."