PABLO -- Flathhead Reservation community members marched and rallied Friday at the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes' headquarters in a stand against drugs, alcohol and domestic abuse.

"Seeing the young people here, that makes me encouraged," said Kevin Howlett, CSKT tribal health director. "When you throw a rock into the pond, it begins to ripple."

Suset Rossbach, a 12-year-old student at Two Eagle River School, attended the rally with peers, a girls' club that meets regularly to talk about how the group can support each other and live a healthy lifestyle. She held a sign that read "Women are Sacred. End Abuse."

"I thought it was awesome and powerful in a spiritual way, and that a lot of people came out to the rally," Rossbach said.

Nearly a dozen speakers, from crime victim advocates to state legislators to law enforcement officers spoke to tribal community members about how drug, alcohol and domestic abuse affects men, women and children.

In Montana, there were more reports of domestic abuse than there were babies born last year, amounting to more than 11,000 cases, said CSKT Chairman James Steele.

Also, domestic violence on the Flathead Reservation is among the highest in the Bureau of Indian Affairs region that serves Montana, Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming, said Craige Couture, CSKT chief of police.

Rally speakers also talked about the troubling effect drug, alcohol and domestic abuse has on children. In one month, Lake County and the tribal police referred nearly 30 children who suffered sexual abuse to child protection services, said Couture.

The Salish and Kootenai are revising tribal codes to better protect children.

"It's to protect the rights of those most vulnerable; those most vulnerable are our children," Steele said. The comment period for revising the code has been extended for 30 days beyond the original deadline.

The rally was organized by Louise Stasso, a CSKT tribal citizen, in recognition of October as National Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

"How sad that we have to have a month to remind us that men, women and children are being abused on a daily basis," said Rep. Jeanne Windham, D-Polson.

Windham told the audience that Montana now has a bill recently approved by the Legislature that allows domestic violence victims to collect 10 weeks of unemployment so they can stay with their families and keep them safe.

And she also asked people to remember that domestic abuse goes beyond bruised skin and broken bones. It can be spiritual, economical, sexual, verbal or emotional, she said, but many services are available to victims.

"You are not alone," she said.

Joyce Silverthorne, CSKT tribal education director, spoke of how drug, alcohol and domestic abuse had roots in the boarding school experience, where parenting skills crumbled as generations of children were subject to beatings and de-culturalization.

"It's part of our history," Silverthorne said. "But we're coming full circle."

By some estimates, as much as 80 percent of the domestic violence cases in Lake County and the reservation are associated with drugs. In a single year, CSKT law enforcement dismantled 22 methamphetamine labs on the Flathhead Reservation, most of them in Arlee.

Advocates against abuse spoke of the need to stand together.

"What we need to do as women and girls is to take our power back," said Evelyn Hernandez, Tribal Crime Victim Advocate for CSKT. "We have the power to not accept abuse anymore."

The violence is always closer than most would like, said Joe McDonald, president of Salish Kootenai College. "It's some of our families. It's some of our friends involved in the violence. It's our friends and families being abused.

"We need to work together," he said. "We need to get our victims to tell their abusers, 'No more.' "

Rep. Carol Juneau, D-Browning, asked the audience to be role models. "We always tell the kids, 'Don't drink. Don't use.' Well, I'm going to tell the adults. Don't drink. Don't use.

"If we use at night or on the weekend, what kind of message are we sending? Role models are so important to kids. In order to be a role model, you have to be sober all the time."

She thanked the girls who carried signs calling for an end to abuse and a call for healing.

And she acknowledged the male students who carried signs, too. "Young boys need to step up," Juneau said.

Her message wasn't lost on them.

"I stand up for stopping violence," said Charles Shull, a 17-year old who attends Two Eagle River School. "I see it every day. I see it in my family. It's hard seeing a woman being beat."