Catoosa County last week received a $150,000 grant through the state Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities to go towards combating underage drinking.

Phil Ledbetter of the Catoosa County Family Collaborative announced in November that the county is only one of seven counties in Georgia that has qualified for the Strategic Prevention Framework State Incentive Grant.

He said eligibility for the grant is based on the number of arrests and car accidents that involve minors and alcohol.

Ledbetter was informed last week on the county receiving the grant.

“I’m very excited about the grant,” Ledbetter said. “But I’m not excited about the county having underage drinking. It is a problem, and we want to do all we can to help fix it.”

He said that during the first year, which runs from this January to the end of September, the grant money will go towards needs assessment.

“We need to survey what specific problems are going on where,” Ledbetter said, “Then we’ll implement our plans starting in October.”

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.

“We want the parents and minors to see that there are going to be repercussions for their actions,” Summers said.