Show Montel Williams has been on a N A DRUG-TROUBLE- D 'Kii:- section of Washington DC a man dressed in the black leather pants and Russian-styl- e shirt of a street-slicdude reaches Some: "MOUN-TAIMOUN-TAIN- his commanding voice calls out rolling over the bleachers evok- ing nervous giggles MOUN-TAIN- N " There is a pause Heads turn this way and that The chatter builds to an excited din Where is he? "Mountain gefout of my way!" he roars Then the powerfully shoulbuilt ders square glides in across the gym floor His cleanly shaven head glistens His breaks across the trim line of his mustache He con- firms his classy good ':s- iir i renie - 4) N I : 1 - t if' ' - -- - - - 't -- ar 1 '— - I N Tv show k t - r--i f N i a '' 4 ft he may I k A t1 i '11k t '4 ty '''' ( i4 0 but) he says e A he's not ''') l I retr ---0) : lution: "Mountain get out of my way!" million teenagers from coast to coast have cheered his message White suburban teens or big-cigang members it does not matter Williams has reached deeply into their hearts "I wish my sister had heard you" a girl in Denver said "She might be here today Two weeks ago she committed suicide" "You're the reason I stopped getting high" a boy said in Montgomery County Md "Don't let nobody stop you from what you're doing You don't know how many of us are out there" Today Williams 35 the motivational speaker wears a second hat as a TV talk-sho- w host Last June The Montel Williams Show was launched into syndication It is now seen in at least 40 cities It marks another remarkable step in his remarkable career Four years ago Williams was quietly climbing the ladder of success in the military A special Two-and-a-h- giving up ty his crusade Vernon High explodes with cheers Scenes like this have been occurritg in high schools around the country since 1988 when Monte! Williams mounted war to save a generation his one-ma- n He has been on the road telling teenagers about what he calls the new "three R's": responsibility restraint respect Believe in them he says and equipped with knowledge and education you can move mountains You can face the scourges that confront you—alcohol drugs dropping out pregnancy—with that single reso 1 BY W A intelligence officer trained in Russian and Mandarin Chinese a former Marine and a US Naval Academy graduate he was clearly on the fast track Then asked to help recruit minority candidates for officer training Williams discovered that he enjoyed motivating young people and that he was exceptionally good at it Three years ago determined to do something about what he saw as a generation in danger of being written off he resigned his active-dut- y commission after forming the nonprofit "Reach the American Dream" foundation then hit the road at a killing pace-- 26 days on and four off Although he was just nine years away from retirement and without a steady income it was he told me both the hardest and easiest decision of his life "Since kids are listening to me" Williams said "I know this is what I'm supposed to be doing Maybe I won't win the war but I'll liberate a lot of prisoners" L Williams knew the odds didn't favor him Experts say up to 40 percent of adolescents nationwide use drugs and alcohol every weekend "I talked to teenagers sniffing airplane glue in Tennessee" he recalled "taking acid on Long Island smoking heroin in Georgia and buying 'ice cream' in Mississippi It blows my mind "Kids get high to take away the pain they are dealing with" Williams told me "We've taught this generation that when you have a problem take something to make you feel better The kids get higher and higher have sex earlier and earlier And we don't arm them to handle any of it It is not enough to just say 'no' You have to tell young people what to say 'yes' to and how to say 'no' That means direction discipline and responsibility If you give them expectations they'll live up to them" What does he say to those who want TERRY LACE PACE 0rIVmWounwW L 7 celebrity— looks in Navy blue and gold: Lt Cmdr Montel B Williams The girls squeal The boys whirl their arms in salutes The gym of Mount - I - his own become 7 4 N " "MOUN-TA1- 'b : ' Now with I mission to save a generation n eBetit 'g' For 4(t k into his pocket and draws a pistol He fires over and over dropping four teenagers to the stage of Carter G Woodson Junior High School The audience shrieks in terror The teenage "actors" aren't dead the speaker explains He was using blanks in a starter's pistol But in real life they could have been shot Washington held hostage by drug warriors has the highest per capita murder rate in the nation What the youngsters saw on the stage happens almost every day Let this be a warning he says The "actors" rise to their feet The audience applauds Four hours later and a culture away in a school gym in suburban Alexandria Va the unseen speaker is heard across an- other stage one-ma- 16 MAURY 12 1992 PARADE MACAZDE |