Talks on underage drinking, drug use continue

The Committee for Alcohol and Drug Free Teenagers hosted its third and final public forum Tuesday to continue discussions on underage drinking and drug use in the community.

Dale Pratt-Wilson and Isabel Geffner presented the committee's recommendations for Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools to parents, teenagers, concerned citizens and law enforcement and mental health officials at the Chapel Hill Town Hall.

Following up on the suggestions received at the forums, a new committee will form starting Nov. 18 to try to implement those ideas.

"This committee could be a watchdog organization that advocates community action," Pratt-Wilson said. Other roles could include addressing parent and neighborhood concerns or challenging community assumptions concerning alcohol consumption and drug use by minors.

"We need to create a community where our kids are safe from all of this," she said.

Pratt-Wilson started the committee in May after witnessing a party at an apartment complex in Chapel Hill where teenagers were drinking and taking drugs.

She arrived just after the police, who broke up the party and sent the party-goers on their way.

"Kids just got in their cars and went on to the next party," she said. "I was disturbed by that. Nobody was cited, nobody was charged."

She decided to take action in the community.

"Everybody kind of mumbles about it," she said. "But no one was really addressing the issue."

Much of Tuesday's forum focused on the interaction between parents and children.

"There are certain basic challenges to raising teenagers," Geffner said.

Parents seem overwhelmed by the issue, Pratt-Wilson said.

"Many parents feel helpless or feel it's a rite of passage," she said. "It's a very hands-off, laissez-faire way of raising teenagers. I think many people were looking for help."

Several students from East Chapel Hill High School attended the forum and are looking to inform their classmates about the changes proposed by the committee in relation to the schools' drug and alcohol policy.

The committee has suggested that students be required to read and sign the policy at the start of each school year.

"I think it's good parents are getting involved, but they're neglecting students," said junior Michael Finegan. "They need to be more open-minded."

Fellow junior Chrissy Paradis agreed. "It does start with the parents, but I think it would be better if kids know their parents will help them instead of punish them."

Andrew Charles, a Chapel Hill High senior, expressed his doubts that the committee will accomplish its goals.

"I don't see it as that big a problem," he said. "Maybe 60 to 70 percent of kids at my school drink or smoke, and these same kids are making straight As and getting into good colleges."

Several audience members asked about programs designed to prevent drug and alcohol abuse, and several suggested that there should be a more comprehensive program for middle-schoolers.

"I think eighth grade is a lot closer to reality than fifth grade," Chapel Hill High senior Keats Baswell said in reference to the recent elimination of the DARE program for fifth graders.

Both Charles and Baswell admitted to remembering the specific party that started Pratt-Wilson's efforts.

Chapel Hill police Chief Gregg Jarvies has participated in all three forums.

"We are learning a lot through these forums, but the police department cannot set community norms," he said. "The underage drinking problem is one that involves a lot of stakeholders. I applaud trying to get teens to tell us what they think about this issue."

But Pratt-Wilson's efforts might be coming at a cost.

She has been the victim of several acts of vandalism. In the last few weeks, she has reported that her family's cars were egged and that an obscene note was left.

"It's cowardly," she said. "I'm disappointed, disturbed and angry that in this community, kids would choose that way of expressing their disagreement with me."

But Pratt-Wilson is not discouraged by the acts. "Kids are fit to be tied; they think I'm trying to take away this right that they don't really have."

Underage drinking never concerned her as long as her kids stayed away from it, she said. "My children always told me that everybody drinks and everybody smokes pot."

But seeing teenagers drink and smoke changed her mind.

"After I saw the party, I realized it was a community problem," she said.

"I wanted to be a model for my kids, to teach them to stand up for what they believe in."

Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.