UNDERAGE DRINKING
Launch timed for spring break, proms
MIKE SHEPHERD/THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL
Shawnee County Sheriff Dick Barta, right, watches as Lenexa Police Department patrol officer Shannon Trevino demonstrates how to check for fake driver's licenses and identification cards following a news conference at the sheriff's office.
UNDERAGE DRINKING STATISTICS
The Kansas Department of Transportation in 2003 surveyed more than 10,000 students in 26 middle schools and 40 high schools in Kansas about the use of alcohol.
- 24 percent of middle school students and 54 percent of high school students reported they "sometimes" drink.
- 13 percent middle school students and Replica Bvlgari Watch 39 percent high school students reported it is "OK" for people their age to drink.
- In the month prior to the survey, 22 percent of middle school students and 51 percent of high school students attended a party where alcohol was served.
- 19 percent of middle school students and 43 percent of high school students said their parents knowingly allowed them to attend a party where alcohol was served.
By Cait Purinton
THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL
Adults in Kansas are being called upon to help law enforcement officers curb underage drinking.
A group of Kansas agencies --- led by Mothers Against Drunk Driving and the Kansas Department of Transportation --- have launched a new campaign called "Care about underage drinking. Make the right call." The Care/Call campaign urges adults to stop providing alcohol to teens and report underage drinking.
Kansas Highway Patrol superintendent William Seck said at a news conference Friday that law enforcement officers throughout Kansas work together to curtail underage drinking, but communities also need to take a stand against the problem.
"It is a pervasive problem. Whether in urban, suburban or rural areas, no parent and no community can afford to be complacent," Seck said. "Lives depend on it."
Pati O'Hara, assistant bureau chief for the KDOT Bureau of Traffic Safety, said 34 Kansas teens died last year in alcohol-related crashes. She said one problem is that adults and legal-age friends often supply alcohol to minors.
"Our 'Care About Underage Drinking' campaign draws attention to this matter," O'Hara said, "and our timing is set so that we are announcing this initiative right before spring break and the prom and graduation season."
Most alcohol-related crashes follow celebrations, such as graduations, weddings and family gatherings, said Terri Roberts, executive director of the Kansas State Nurses Association.
"People, especially our youth, believe they are immune from these types of crashes and that it won't happen to them," she said. "I am here to tell you alcohol-related crashes happen all the time, and it could be you or a loved one that those nurses wheel into the next emergency room bay."
Roberts said the part of the brain that is the "chief decision maker and voice of reason" changes during adolescence more than any other part of the brain and also is the part of the brain most damaged by high-risk drinking.
Wanda Stewart, chairwoman of the Kansas chapter of MADD, said alcohol is the most commonly used drug among America's youth and is 6.5 times more likely to kill children than any other drug.
Stewart, of El Dorado, said her 3-month-old son, Scott, was killed in 1981 when her car was rear-ended by an 18-year-old woman who was drinking and driving.
"All my injuries healed over time, less one --- the hole that was ripped through my heart the day Scott was taken from us," she said. "We still have his favorite toys. Those toys no longer get the love and attention of a child because of the decision of one person to drink and drive."
Cait Purinton can be reached at (785) 295-1185 or
Please see DRINKING, Page 4C
Continued from Page 1C
Drinking: Alcohol can damage
adolescent brains
Drinking: Brains
ONLINE
Hear discussion about efforts to curb underage drinking in Kansas.
cjonline.com
Vacheron Constantin Watch