Actions speak louder than words

Parent Town Hall Meeting Challenge!

The Parent Town Hall Meeting takes place Sept. 22 at 12:30pm at Christ United Methodist Church 1232 National Rd. The topic will be parents who play host to underage drinking parties. We have speakers lined up to address health and well-being issues surrounding youth consuming alcohol. Many parents who do host parties honestly believe it's safer for their teens. We want parents to explore what safer really means. We hope for honest, open discussion with opposing view points.

The challenge: If you see this posting and you feel strongly about this issue either way, please come to the meeting and BRING A FRIEND. Parents are a very dificult group to get together with work and children, but we could use your input on this issue. Let your community know you care about our youth.

"Life is not a game show, we don't need a host!"

OCSAPC will begin to address parents playing host to parties for underage drinkers. According to interviews with community members last year, most believe that youth gain access to alcohol through family, friends and parents. This September our coalition will hold a Parent Town Hall Meeting in which we will explore why parents supply youth with alcohol. We will consult experts from medicine, law enforcement, treatment, and recovery. A primary focus will be on youth health and well being.

"We Are The Future" youth have supplied us our game show theme which will be utilized for this campaign. We hope this will begin an open, honest dialogue within our community.

OCSAPC Wants Community Leaders! That's You!

Come and join us for our July 8, 2009 Quarterly OCSAPC Meeting! Help us strategize and plan for upcoming events or just find out what is going on in your community! We welcome anyone interested in Substance Abuse Prevention! Together we can come together to make our county a safer, healthier place to live.

Talented Teens Take Town Hall to the Top

Teen Town Hall Meeting: Graduation Celebration was a positive wonderful event. The youth united and pulled together an insiring program. We are proud of their efforts and know that they helped all of those in attendence. Plenty of youth were on hand from area schools, shelters and the neighborhood. Family members, coalition volunteers and community leaders also came out for the event.

A youth created interactive presentation brought attention to issues facing young people about alcohol consumption. Since youth came up with the ideas, we know they deal with these problems everyday. It was great to hear the problem followed by the solutions. The presentation was followed by a preformance from We Are The Future youth group. They use their talents to inspire and bring about positive change!

We hope that in the future we can get more and more youth involved in our activities. If you know any interested youth, please contact us. A youth advisory board with students from different high schools could be a great way to mobilize the talents and energy of young people. Thank you for your interest in us!

Town Hall Meeting "Graduation Celebration"

We are pleased to announce that a wonderful group of young people from various high schools around the valley have come together to plan, organize and conduct a town hall meeting addressing underage alcohol consumption.  It will be themed "Graduation Celebration" and will be open and appropriate for all teens.  The youth, some of them seniors, wanted to remind other kids about the dangers of alcohol consumption during granduation season and upcoming  summer festivities that often include alcohol.  

The young people have put together an interactive presentation, they have asked several adults speakers to address problems caused by alcohol and drug abuse, and We Are The Future will perform.  Free food and drinks!

Date:  May 21, 2009 at 4pm       

Location: Island Community Shelter, Wheeling Island Marina/Boat Ramp

WE HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!

April is Alcohol Awareness Month

Just some facts!

Nationally:

• Nearly one fourth of Americans (more than 20 million) abuse alcohol or are alcohol dependent according to a federal survey.


• Slightly more than half of Americans aged 12 or older are current drinkers.


• More than 1/5 of Americans 12 or older participated in binge drinking during the past 30 days.

(Source: National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 2007)

In West Virginia:

• Alcohol sales exceed 44 million gallons of alcohol a year. That's 30 gallons per year per West Virginian age 14 and older. (Source: National Institute on Alcohol and Alcoholism)


• Nearly 300,000 WV adults report binge drinking within the last month. (Source: National Survey on Drug Use and Health)


• More than 70,000 underage youth in WV drink each year. (Source: Pacific Institute for Research and Develpment)

The Cost: $1.8 Billion to the state of West Virginia!

Fabulous 4th Grade Poster Contest Winners Below

National Alcohol Awareness Month is April! Enjoy these wonderful billboards created by our own Ohio County Students!

In October Ohio County School couselors implemented the prevention education program Keep a Clear Mind with all 4th graders! Along with supplying the program, the coalition sponsored a poster contest in which the students took what they learned and applied it to a drawing. The children were asked to show in their drawing what they choose to do instead of drinking or using drugs.

The poster entries were judged by coalition volunteers. Coalition members commented on how difficult it was to choose the winners since all the entries were so good. A winner was chosen from each school and from these 9 winners the top three were chosen. The top three winning posters will appear on billboards in Ohio County for the month of April commemorating National Alcohol Awareness Month. The top winners are Abigalye Hudrlik, Middle Creek, Jorden Eikey, Woodsdale, and Kyle Wensel, Steenrod.

All nine winners will have their posters placed on banners provided by Wheeling Police Department’s EUDL grant coordinated by Sgt. Duwane Taylor. The banners will be presented to schools by the DARE officers or PRO officers and will hang in the elementary schools of each winner during the month of April. The banner winners are Hannah Warren, Warwood; Brendon Morris, Ritchie; Rachel Meister, Madison; Gwendolyn Mirzoyan, Elm Grove; Coltin Seidler, West Liberty and a student from Bethlehem. These students are congratulated by OCSAPC as role models to other students and workers for change in their community. We are very proud of their efforts and talent.

Ohio County Alcohol Retailers 98.4% Compliant in January

The Ohio County Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition (OCSAPC) in partnership with Wheeling Police Department would like to announce compliance check rates of 31 off-premise alcohol sales locations in Ohio County. Wheeling PD has been implementing one monthly compliance check since February of 2008; at this time the compliance rate was only 60.32%. The collaborative effort has allowed for two monthly compliance checks over the past several months; the monthly compliance rate for January is 98.4% in Ohio County.

We are pleased to acknowledge the area businesses that were in compliance for the month of January by not selling alcohol to those under 21. These businesses should be congratulated and held as examples to the business community. Their business practices show they actively care about the safety and well being of their community. They are:

Convenient Food Mart (Bethany Pike, S. Huron St.,Washington Ave.,Main St., 16th St.)
Exxon (National Rd., Island)
Gumby’s (National Rd., S. Wabash St.)
Rite Aid (Elm Grove)
Elm Grove Carry Out
BFS Foods
Riesbecks
Schmidt Bros. Sunoco
Duggers
7-11 Store
Island Exxon
CVS Pharmacy (National Rd.)
Sheetz (National Rd.)
Exxon (National Rd.)
Warwood Exxon
Rite-Aid Pharmacy (Warwood)
Kroger Store #102 (Warwood)
Smoker Friendly (Warwood)
Corner Connection (Warwood)
BFS Foods (River Rd.)
A & J Corner Market
Smoker Friendly (S. Huron)
Neeley’s Grocery
Kroger Store #562 (Mt. DeChantal Rd.)
Gumby’s Cigarette World (National Rd.)

Kristen Kroflich with OCSAPC believes “the positive January compliance rate shows many clerks are aware of their responsibility to check I.D.’s and not sell to those under 21, which is also beneficial to them as merchants since citations and fines associated with non-compliance are issued directly to the person checking out the alcohol product.” “It’s a great area compliance rate and it exemplifies positive business practice.”

Compliance checks are funded through a collaborative effort between Wheeling Police Department, under the Enforcing Underage Drinking Laws Grant (EUDL), and the Ohio County Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition (OCSAPC), funded by a Federal SPF SIG Grant and made possible through Purdue Pharma Asset Forfeiture Funds attained by the coalition.

60 Minutes on Drinking Age Debate

For Your Information - 60 Minutes will have a segment on the debate over the drinking age this Sunday evening. Check it out and let us know what you think!