The Rocket

Issue date: 4/4/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Steve Reed [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: MCT Campus A 2006 study showed that one out of five high school students goes to school drunk or high at least once a week, and more than 1,700 college students die each year from alcohol poisoning. Local law enforcement representatives are trying to crack down on underage drinking. [Click to enlarge]

Teenagers have been making mistakes for, well, as long as there have been teenagers. And underage drinking has been a hot topic since laws have prohibited teenagers from tipping the bottle.

Unwilling to accept this as an unavoidable situation, the Butler County Drug and Alcohol Program held a meeting to raise awareness and discuss a possible solution Wednesday night at a "Town Hall Meeting" in the Eisenberg Classroom Building Auditorium.

The message was clear. Underage drinking is a problem in Butler County, and something needs to be done about it.

According to a study published in the Butler Eagle in 2006, one out of five high school students goes to school drunk or high at least once a week, and more than 1,700 college students die each year from alcohol poisoning.

The Butler County Drug and Alcohol Program's Treatment Needs Assessment in 2007 found that 63 percent of Butler County residents acknowledge an increase in underage drinking in our communities and rate it as a "major problem."

"You folks sitting out there are going to run our country some day, and I'd like to see you do it with a clear mind," Dale Pinkerton, chairman of the Butler County commissioners, said to the smattering of minors in attendance.

Most minors, when considering the downfalls of underage drinking, would undoubtedly think of fines and suspension of the all-important driver's license.

Terry Brown, captain of the Slippery Rock Borough Police and an active member of the Butler County Drug Task Force, stressed more severe consequences.

"You take a young kid who has just received his or her driver's license, and then add alcohol, and he becomes a guided missile," Brown said. "The minute you get intoxicated at a young age, you become a walking time bomb."

Brown said that 46 percent of the total alcohol-related fatalities in Pennsylvania in 2007 happened in 12 counties, one of which was Butler.

Although there are numerous ways for minors to obtain booze, one of the prominent problem areas are parents who feel that, by letting their kids drink at home under their supervision, they are keeping their kids safe.

Brown said that the No. 1 place for minors to get alcohol is from their homes.

Scott Roskovski, a Butler County detective and member of the DUI taskforce, said that children's drinking occurs not only in the homes with an alcoholic parent, but in those without as well.

Unlike the Cops n' Shops program, which targets stores that sell alcohol to minors, law enforcement has a hard time cracking down on these parents.

"Parents who buy their children alcohol feel that they are creating a safe house for their kids," Roskovski said. "It is hard for us to pursue because we don't see it happen."

Roskovski said that there are two aspects of society-the elders and the youth. Parents have to supervise their kids and teach them at a young age what can happen to them.

The scope of what can happen to minors who start drinking at a very young age is vast, but thoroughly unpleasant.

According to a presentation made by Brown, teenage girls who binge drink (five or more drinks in one episode) are 63 percent more likely to become teenage mothers.

He also noted that more than 90 percent of 12- to 20-year-olds fit the description of binge drinkers.

Bill Halle, from the Grace Youth and Family Foundation's Underage Drinking Program, said that the leading factor that influences kids to drink is who they sit next to in homeroom.

Though the responsibility of educating minors about the dangers of underage drinking seems to fall on the shoulders of adults, some high school students recognize the danger. Slippery Rock High School sophomore Veronica Cardello, the spokesperson for the school's Teenagers Against Drugs and Alcohol group, said that, like in most high schools, drug and alcohol use remain a problem for Slippery Rock students.

"If you did a random survey of our high school, I think that two-thirds of the students are using drugs and alcohol, and nothing is being done about it," Cardello said.

Sue McConnell, who works with Butler County Juvenile Probation, feels differently.

"Slippery Rock is fabulous at targeting underage drinking," McConnell said.

Even though minors are being arrested and charged with underage drinking and drug violations, treatment funding is becoming an increasing concern.

"People don't realize that our treatment funds are being cut, and we have more teenage kids than ever before," McConnell said.

Possible solutions discussed at the meeting included teaching kids about the dangers of alcohol in grade school and requiring parents to attend classes when their children are caught drinking.

"A lot of parents know that their kids are going to a party at another parent's house, and they don't report it. Parents are letting it happen, and that's the scary thing," McConnell said.

Roskovski said that holding parents accountable when their children are caught drinking would serve as a solid deterrent.

Alternate entertainment opportunities for students at local high schools were also discussed. Cardello supported the idea of providing a variety of entertainment opportunities for students, saying that peer pressure and popularity are big factors when it comes to drinking at Slippery Rock High School.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools