_root rollover help

I am trying to create rollovers in dropdown menus that i have. I am having a problem with the rollovers on the same dropdown all playing at the same time. The rollovers play backward and forward correctly as they should but when you mouse over one of seven they all play.

i really need some help can anyone give me a hand and point me in the right direction. Thanks

The code i am using is:

the invisible button to animate the rollover:

on (rollOut) {
_root.direction = “backwards”;
}

on (rollOver) {
_root.direction = “forwards”;
}

on the movieclip with the rollover animation in it:

onClipEvent (load) {
this.stop();
}
onClipEvent (enterFrame) {
if (_root.direction == “forwards”) {
this.gotoAndStop (this._currentframe + 1);
}
if (_root.direction == “backwards”) {
this.gotoAndStop (this._currentframe - 1);
}
}

These are in a movie clip nested in

Scene 1 > drop > Bar > webrollover

I can post the FLA if it would be easier.