SEQUIM — Three mornings before the Irrigation Festival Arts & Crafts Show, Police Chief Robert Spinks put a damper on future parties.
During its Wednesday work session, the City Council asked for Spinks’ input on the topic of underage drinking, having watched “This Place,” a 15-minute video on how pervasive alcohol has become in American communities and how easy it is for young teenagers to get it.
“Hard drugs are less prevalent in our schools, but we do see alcohol abuse,” Spinks began.
When the school resource officer, Tania Kohlman, rounded up some Sequim Middle School students who were drunk at lunch time, “the parents were concerned that we intervened with their kids. They didn’t think it was that big a deal.”
To Spinks, it is a big deal that could worsen.
High school sophomores
Among high school sophomores, 15 percent reported having five or more drinks in a row in the past two weeks, and 19 percent of seniors reported drinking that much, according to a state Department of Social Services Healthy Youth survey (www3.doh.wa.gov/HYS).
Twenty-seven percent of high school seniors said they had driven after drinking or ridden in a car with someone who had.
Only 12 percent of seniors thought they would be caught by police if they drank, the survey reported.
Councilman Bill Huizinga asked Spinks how city leaders could help, perhaps by altering city ordinances.
“The council needs to look very carefully at any type of beer garden within a community festival,” Spinks said.
“I don’t like them. I don’t think they’re appropriate.”
