Underage Drinking Forum Set
By ART LIMANNUnderage drinking will be the subject of a free community forum to be held at 11 a.m. Jan. 8 in the first floor conference room at the Historic Federal Building, 324 Seventh St., Moundsville.
The forum is titled "Youth and Alcohol: How Do We Keep Our Children Safe and Healthy?" The program is sponsored by the Marshall County Anti-Drug Coalition, the Marshall County Family Resource Network and the West Virginia Center for Civic Life.
According to Family Resource Network Substance Abuse Prevention Director Latrisha Whitelatch, earlier this year, the Center for Civic Life handpicked Marshall County for a pilot project to build citizen involvement in preventing underage drinking.
She explained Marshall County was one of only three West Virginia counties picked to participate in the project. In August the Family Resource Network, Marshall County Anti-Drug Coalition, Marshall County Sheriff's Department, YWCA, West Virginia Prevention Resource Center, and Northwood Health Systems solicited local citizens to voice their concerns on the underage drinking issue.
After more than 100 interviews, a discussion guide, "Youth & Alcohol: How Do We Keep Our Children Safe and Healthy?" was prepared by the FRN and the Center for Civic Life. It contains local facts and addresses local concerns. Copies of the discussion guide will be distributed at forum and are available on the Marshall County FRN's Web site, www.marshallcountyfrn.com.
"This will be a countywide forum for people to come together and talk about the underage drinking issue," Whitelatch said. "It's another piece to the puzzle."
She noted that the West Virginia Center for Civic Life is not a governmental agency, but a non-profit organization that works with local people to solve local problems in the state.
Since the interviews were conducted, the Center for Civic Life held a daylong training in Marshall County on how to moderate community forums. Smaller community forums also have been held on the underage drinking problem. "It's a neat process," Whitelatch continued. "We were able to learn some new skills which we will also be able to use on other issues later on. It's been a positive experience."
In addition, Whitelatch pointed out the Marshall County Anti-Drug Coalition has been focusing on underage drinking in a major multimedia public-service campaign, on its own, which began this month. It was funded through a Drug Free Communities Grant from the federal Office of National Drug Control Policy and will run through February.
"The two programs are complementing each other very well," she said.
For more information about the forum, or to register, call the FRN at 304-845-3300 or email marshallcountyfrn@comcast.net. Refreshments will be provided.
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SphinxRising58
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01-04-10 10:19 PM
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It is rather interesting that Moundsville should claim to be concerned about underaged drinking when you stop to consider that it was in Moundsville that a pair of parents held a bing drinking party for teens, tried to cover it up by asking the teens to lie, and what did they get when one of the teens died from drinking too much at the party they held? 45 days jail time, while the wife got no time at all.
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