Anti-Drinking Billboard Hits Home
Originally printed in The Westerly Sun
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
WESTERLY- The Westerly Substance Abuse Task Force has unveiled another of its billboard messages aimed at preventing teen drinking.
The billboard, located in Dunn's Corners, features a refrigerator with the message: "The easiest place for kids to get beer is right next to the milk. Keep alcohol out of the hands of kids." The new message comes at a time of year when teen deaths tend to rise across the country as a result of drunken driving, said Mary Lou Serra, task force coordinator.
"This is the season when, tragically, more teens die following prom and graduation parties in drinking and driving related crashes then at any other time during the year," Serra said.
The task force, employing a national campaign theme, believes that sending powerful messages about youth access to alcohol during this season can go a long way to preventing those tragedies.
"This is a wonderful time for our high school-age teens with proms and parties and we want to ensure that their memories of these occasions are only happy ones. We want to keep our kids safe and alive," said Serra.
The task force launched its underage drinking awareness media campaign two years ago in an effort to spotlight the growing problem of teen drinking in our community.
"Some parents may believe that teen drinking is going to happen whether they condone it or not and that by having them 'drink in the house where I can watch them' is a solution," Serra said. "We're here to say it's not. Adults providing alcohol, whether by purchasing it or just turning a blind eye to the missing beer cans from the fridge or garage is condoning underage drinking."
The task force's underage drinking prevention campaign, funded by a federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration grant, has been an ongoing effort to educate the community about the dangers of teen drinking, including the connection between drinking and risky behaviors as well as the potential for other substance use and abuse.
During the course of the campaign, a number of community and schools-based prevention forums and events have been held Cable TV, radio and webbased public service announcements have aired and the Task Force wrote and brought to the Town Council a municipal Social Host Liability ordinance, which passed last July.