FRCC session tackles underage drinking challenge
By Katie Pizza
Argus Observer
Friday, April 18, 2008 1:31 PM PDT
| |
| A collection of public service literature is displayed at the Four Rivers Cultural Center Tuesday. The center was the gathering place for community members to discuss ideas about how to stop underage drinking. |
Ontario — A number of Ontario’s community leaders gathered at a town hall meeting Tuesday at Four Rivers Cultural Center with one goal in mind: halting underage drinking.
Lifeways Prevention Coordinator for Malheur County Andrea Lockner spearheaded the event and invited representatives from law enforcement, church groups, hospitals, courts, mental health facilities, schools and state government agencies to speak about underage drinking.
About 50 people attended the 7 p.m. gathering, which was fueled by a $500 stipend from the United States Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and included videos showing the dangers of underage drinking.
Lockner said parents are a key influence in keeping alcohol out of the hands of minors and cited a change in how alcohol is manufactured and sold to youth as a reason for a boost in consumption.
“Before, if you didn’t like the taste of alcohol, you didn’t drink,” she said. “Now it can taste like strawberries.”
She called these fruity concoctions “alcopops” and said they help make drinking more appealing to youths.
She also cited brand confusion as a reason retailers may accidentally sell to minors, mentioning energy drinks and alcoholic energy drinks that look similar.
The Oregon Liquor Control Commission’s Investigator for Eastern Oregon Jason Evers also talked about the confusion.
“We have a minor decoy check where we take cadets or minor volunteers and have them go into businesses to try to get liquor,” he said. “In Bend, we took a police cadet to a convenience store. She came back all proud with a Rockstar (energy drink). So we said ‘no,’ and she went back and came back with an alcohol one.”
Evers said the similarity between products can be a problem, especially for businesses that do not use machines to read bar codes and instruct the clerk to ask to see ID when an alcoholic drink is scanned.
“To prevent that, we encourage businesses to upgrade equipment,” he said.
However, the problem does not end at the checkout counter.
Another issue touched on at the session revolved around minors who seek to obtain alcohol from friends, neighbors and even their parents, which complicates the challenge for law enforcement.
“No person other than the person’s parent or guardian shall sell, give, or otherwise make available any alcoholic liquor to any person under the age of 21 years,” Oregon state law mandates.
Some of the audience members found fault with this law, and pointed out if alcohol does damage to young minds, it seemed like it would be considered child abuse or neglect for parents to provide the beverages to children.
However, Evers said this law only applies in the home and not events such as fairs.
“Once the parents leave home, they are fair game,” he said. Malheur County Court Judge J. Burdette Pratt also talked about parental acceptance of drinking by minors.
“The attitude of some young people and parents is that it is no big deal,” he said. “Before we can resolve one MIP (minor in possession of alcohol) they’ve picked up another MIP.”
Lockner showed a state-donated video entitled “This Place,” which highlighted the prevalence of alcohol in adult society, which could contribute to the laid-back attitude toward underage drinking by some minors and adults.
The video showed adult consumption at parties and sporting events, leaving minors to see alcohol as not only attractive but easily available. The video stressed how role models can affect minors, both negatively and positively.
“It’s our role as parents to speak to our kids,” Lifeways counselor Dennis Baughman said. “If we’re behind the 8-ball, other people will speak to our kids before we do.”
The town meeting also analyzed why minors drink in the first place.
Vale High School student Samantha Kamo cited the lack of cheap area entertainment as a reason minors may turn to the bottle.
“Kids think it’s the only way to have fun around here,” she said. “Not many students have much money to spend to have fun, so they turn to drinking.”
Ontario City Councilman and Rev. Jim Mosier mentioned a planned Boys and Girls club may be able to fill that void, with scouting, church groups and sports as other avenues.
Lockner said these ideas should be discussed further at the next meeting, which will be entitled the “Safe Healthy Coalition Meeting.”
The meeting, which will involve community efforts to address underage drinking and substance abuse, will be held at 5:30 p.m. April 29 at Lifeways, situated at 702 Sunset Drive in Ontario.
Want to comment on this story? Check out the Argus Observer blogs at www.argusobserver.com
