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News
Release — September 29, 2000 |
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| For
Immediate Release |
| September
29, 2000 |
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| Contact:
Scott Southward, (619) 474-8844, ext.# 14, Cell:
619-719-2050 |
| Patti
Yanochko, (619) 474-8844, ext.# 29 |
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COMMUNITY
RALLIES TO COMBAT |
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YOUTH
ACCESS TO ALCOHOL |
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Booze:
big problem for backcountry youth |
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Alpine-- Concerned citizens, law
enforcement and public health advocates gathered at a spot along
Interstate 8 near where a 17-year old was recently killed coming
home from a party in Alpine. They
are now calling on all facets of the community to become more
responsive to the increasing problem of youth access to alcohol and
drinking in rural East County.
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“Youth from all over East County come
to the backcountry to party. But
the way to prevent the problems that go along with these parties is
simple. If our youth
can’t get alcohol, problems like drinking and driving just won’t
happen.” says Pastor Robert Wagener of Chapel of the Hills Church
in Descanso, “By letting youth in our communities get alcohol, we
adults are encouraging its use. If businesses, law enforcement, parents, teachers and
community leaders together would share in the responsibility and
make a firm commitment to keep alcohol away from our youth, we will
help them to become productive and healthy adults.”
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According to a recent survey, teenagers
in rural east San Diego County say that alcohol is easy to obtain.
Most are familiar with the merchants who do not ask for
identification, the parents who provide alcohol in their homes, and
they know how to cross into Tecate, Mexico where the legal drinking
age is 18. “If you
know where to go, buying a six-pack is almost as easy as buying a
can of soda,” says 17 year old Alex.
He adds that many of his classmates have regular drinking
parties at parks and remote areas around the county.
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The 1999 survey of all 7th-12th-grade
youth at Mountain Empire Junior/Senior High School shows that
students have a variety of ways to get alcohol.
Among juniors and seniors: nearly 40% had obtained beer from
parties where parents were present, 26% had purchased alcohol from
local stores and 33 percent of 10th-12th grade
students who visited Tecate, Mexico bought alcohol there.
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| In addition to
having easy access to alcohol, the survey also found a large
number of rural East County youth who drink alcohol on a
fairly regular basis. Among
11th and 12th graders at Mountain
Empire High School: |
- Nearly
60 percent reported drinking within 30 days prior to the
survey;
- Thirty-one percent had
ridden in a car with a drinking driver and 19 percent
admitted that they drove after drinking 30 days prior to
the survey;
- Almost 50 percent had
drank enough to feel drunk within 30 days prior to the
survey; and
- By
12 years of age, nearly 40% of rural East County youth
have already consumed their first alcoholic drink.
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Jim Cox, Mountain Empire Junior/Senior
High School Principal, has been working to educate our youth about
the dangers of drinking for several years.
“The emotional and economic impact of underage drinking
affects all of us,” says Cox.
“We want
successful, productive and healthy teenagers, but it is up to each
and every one of us to take responsibility to ensure that
happens.”
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Community leaders are calling for
adults over the age of 21 to stop providing youth with alcohol; for
parents to be increasingly aware of their teenagers’ activities
and whereabouts; for businesses to be more responsible by checking
ID’s when selling alcohol; and for increased law enforcement
activities to help reduce underage drinking.
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The San Diego County Sheriff’s
Department is planning to step up its efforts to reduce youth access
to alcohol in the rural areas by conducting decoy operations to
catch those establishments and individuals providing alcohol to
minors. “The decoy
operations will be random and unannounced and it will help the
department to monitor where our youth are buying alcohol across the
region,” says San Diego Sheriff Rod Gilmore.
“We are putting store owners and individuals on alert that
selling or furnishing alcohol to minors is a serious offense and you
will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
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In a decoy operation, teenagers work
under the direction of law enforcement officials and attempt to
either directly buy alcohol in a liquor store or ask an adult to
purchase alcohol for them. Meantime,
police are nearby to cite the retailer or the individual that
provides the minor with alcohol.
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A
Collaborative effort of Institute for Public Strategies, Communities
Against Substance Abuse and Combating Underage Drinking Initiative
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