The Wahkiakum County Eagle - Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891

Students from the Wahkiakum Community Network (WCN) asked individual school board members to sign a pledge to “draw the line between youth and alcohol” at the Wahkiakum School District’s board meeting February 22.

Students Abby Buenagel and Kaisha Harris accompanied Tammy Peterson, Public Relations Coordinator for the Network, wearing Let’s Draw the Line t-shirts and passed out the commitment cards and wrist bands. Lisa Frink of the WSU Cooperative Extension has partnered with the network to make videos of signature-gathering events.

The network received $1000 in the Let’s Draw the Line to partner with other local groups, approach local leaders and state representatives to advise them of the penalties for providing alcohol to minors and changes in liquor advertising rules.

Peterson said the county has not had problems with retailers following rules for advertisements. The rules were changed in April, 2010, to limit to four the number of signs advertising alcohol brand names and manufacturers that hang in store windows or outside of stores visible from the right of way. The new rules also specify that alcohol advertising on signs and billboards must not be closer than 500 feet to schools, playgrounds and playing fields.

Providing alcohol to minors is a gross misdemeanor, with a potential penalty of $5,000 and a year in jail ( RCW 66.44.270). Washington State Coalition to Stop Underage Drinking sponsored the campaign partly as a result of research on the “shoulder tap” practice in which youths approach an adult outside an alcohol establishment and ask the adult to purchase alcohol.

A survey published in 2007 in Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research found that 8 percent of adults approached were willing to purchase alcohol for youths who appeared to be 18 to 20 years old. The study showed that 19 percent of young males were willing to purchase alcohol for the same youth. The odds of adults providing alcohol in urban areas were 9.4 times greater than in suburban areas; no stats were presented for rural areas.

Peterson took a photograph of the board as one of the conditions to receive the funding. Frink said youth will make videos of signature-gathering events, and post those to four websites. More information is available at http://www.starttalkingnow.org.