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Forums to help combat underage drinking
By Charlotte J. Eller (Daily
Staff Writer)
Two
Northern Shenandoah Valley communities will join with hundreds of other
jurisdictions across the nation on Tuesday when they hold forums designed to
launch all-out efforts to combat the problem of rampant underage drinking.
In Front
Royal and Winchester, where the forums are set for 7 p.m., panels of experts in
various fields dealing with the problem will be featured in an effort to find
positive ways to help overcome underage drinking, organizers said.
The forums
are sponsored in Front Royal by the Warren Community Health Coalition, and in
Winchester-Frederick County by CLEAN Inc.
They are made possible by federal grants from the Department of Health
and Human Services, officials said. Warren County's grant, announced last fall,
totaled $500,000 allocated over five years.
The Front
Royal-area forum will be held at the Warren County Government Center while the
Winchester-Frederick event is slated for the Shenandoah University Pharmacy
School at Winchester Medical Center
Organizers hope parents,
teachers, youths, government officials and other area residents will attend to
learn about the impact underage drinking has on the community, and help find
ways to deal with it. Warren County
project manager Diane Fisher said.
In preparation for the
forum, the Warren Coalition has been holding focus groups to help identify
issues vital to youths.
On Tuesday, faith-based,
non-profit and civic organizations met together, while Department of Social
Services, law enforcement and legal officials also held a meeting.
Three more focus groups are
slated for Thursday, coalition director Jill Williams said. At 11 a.m., a group meeting for parents,
business people and concerned residents will be held. A meeting for school and health personnel is planned for 12:30
p.m.
Tenth- and 11th-grade
students of nonpublic schools and home-study programs will meet Thursday at 4
p.m. at the center. Warren County High
School students will meet Monday during their lunch periods, Fisher said.
The Warren County forum also
will touch off events marking April as Alcohol Awareness Month, when the organization
plans to begin its second survey in three years on the issue.
The forum “is a chance for
people to be heard and be part of the solution,” Fisher said, in urging people
to attend.
The Front Royal forum will
feature Juvenile and Domestic Relations Judge William W. Sharpe, state
Alcoholic Beverage Control Board Agent Kevin Weatherholtz, Northwestern
Community Services counselor Janell Sobran, Millie Jenkins of Mothers Against
Drunk Driving, Warren County Sheriff’s Sgt. Jerome Robinson, high school students
and nurse Callie Dove from Warren Memorial Hospital’s emergency room.
In Winchester, forum
participants will include Juvenile and Domestic Relations Judge Elizabeth
Kellas, city Councilman and psychologist Phillip Pate, Northwestern Community
Services board members Jay Hessler and Mark Gleason, parent Sherrie Lattimore
and Handley High School teacher Fernando Pantoja.
For more information, call
Fisher or Williams at 636-6385 in Front Royal or Linda Jones in Winchester at
722-3589
„ Contact Charlotte Eller at celler@nvdaily.com