Catoosa County qualifies for funding to combat underage drinking
Dec 11, 2009 | 1764 views | 4 
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During a recent Board of Commissioners meeting, Phil Ledbetter of the Catoosa County Family Collaborative told board members that the county has qualified for a grant to help target the problem in youths ages 10-17.
He said the county is only one of seven counties in Georgia that has qualified for the Strategic Prevention Framework State Incentive Grant from the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
Ledbetter said eligibility for the grant is based on the number of arrests and car accidents that involve minors and alcohol.
He said if Catoosa receives the grant, which provides $150,000 for the first year, the funding will go towards as-sessing and surveying the increase in arrests.
He said for the second year, and years following, grant funds will go towards implementing programs based on the needs of the county.
Ledbetter said there are already programs within the schools to inform students on the dangers of alcohol abuse, but that more needs to be done to deter the problem.
Sheriff Phil Summers said a reason for the increase in arrests is not due to an increase in minors drinking, but because law enforcement has taken a more “aggressive” approach to dealing with the problem.
“Years ago, we had a different protocol for dealing with some alcohol-related offenses with minors,” Summers said. “We would bring the minor down to the station and call his parents. … We would try to let them handle it to keep the minor from having a criminal record.”
Summers said this protocol was used when a minor was found intoxicated or in the possession of alcohol, but not in the case of a DUI.
“However,” Summers said, “this didn’t work. We found parents either would not or could not handle the prob-lem at home after seeing repeat offenders.”
Summers said by taking criminal action against minors with alcohol-related offenses, it forces the parents to take time out of their day to go to court, pay court costs and causes the minor to have a criminal record.
He said there have been many instances where the minor had the alcohol provided to them by a parent.
“We want the parents and minors to see that there are going to be repercussions for their actions,” Summers said.
Ledbetter said a major problem with minors in Catoosa abusing alcohol is related to the “good ole boy” mental-ity held in the South.
“When everyone’s getting together to watch Alabama play Tennessee on a Saturday afternoon,” Ledbetter said, “and there’s a cooler full of beer … it seems natural to let everyone there be involved.”
He said age 21 is the standard for legal alcohol consumption in the U.S. because the brain is developed to make better decisions.
“When the brain isn’t fully developed and under the influence of alcohol,” Ledbetter said, “people just don’t make wise decisions.”
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If this is the case, then what's the problem with driving under the influence? A drunk (21 or older) should be able to make the same decisions as a sober person, right?
He said age 21 is the standard for legal alcohol consumption in the U.S. because the brain is developed to make better decisions. “When the brain isn’t fully developed and under the influence of alcohol,” Ledbetter said, “people just don’t make wise decisions.”
I don't care how developed your brain may be ... when under the influence, it's a screwed-up brain. A young drunk is no more a fool than an old drunk, Mr Ledbetter.
Throw more money at a problem that money can't solve. That's the way of fools!