New Commercial To Deliver Warning About Underage Drinking

August 5, 2010 by John Rook

The use of alcohol is illegal for anyone under the age of 21, but that doesn't stop millions of teenagers each year from drinking and, many times, to excess.
The Cheshire Coalition To Stop Underage Drinking, along with the Cheshire Police Department, has been fighting for years to try and dissuade younger residents from breaking the law and putting themselves and others in danger.
Now, the groups are targeting a different group of people involved in underage drinking: parents.
For the next three weeks, local radio airwaves will carry a message directed at parents, asking that they reconsider facilitating their child's desire to drink by holding parties in what they consider to be “safe” environments. The commercial, which features the voice of Cheshire Police Lt. Jay Markella, has already begun playing on WHCN (105.9 FM) and will continue to be broadcast throughout the rest of the month.
It is all a part of an ongoing campaign to educate and inform both teenagers and their parents, said Cheshire Youth and Social Services Director Michelle Piccerillo, about the real danger associated with underage drinking.
“With this commercial, we are really directing the message at the parents,” said Piccerillo. “It certainly won't hurt for the kids to hear it as well, but we want the parents to be aware and, hopefully, if they hear it repeatedly, it will at least make them reconsider.”
The commercials reportedly cost $5,000 in total, money that came from a state grant that was provided to the Coalition more than a year ago to help them conduct the campaign.
The message is vital, Piccerillo stated, because many parents look at drinking almost as a natural part of the high school experience and don't consider it to be “that big of a deal.”
“The parents feel like, if they facilitate (the parties), the kids will be safe, but they aren't safe,” she said.
Piccerillo suggested that many parents may believe the only concern is that of drunk driving, but alcohol use can lead to many other problems, including drug use, unprotected sex, and violence.
“What if a parent is confronted with a drunk, belligerent teenager who wants to leave and they refuse. How are they going to handle that situation and prevent that teen from leaving? They aren't going to call the cops, and they aren't going to beat the kid up, so what will they do?” asked Piccerillo.
Markella stated that, many times, when Cheshire police are forced to investigate incidents in town, including sexual assault, they find alcohol and underage drinking are involved.
The department has always considered underage drinking to be a serious issue with which to deal, yet Markella stated that many residents seem to have a hard time believing officers are invested in cracking down.
“We had an incident in June where 37 kids were caught at a big party,” recounted Markella. Those were the ones that were caught. A lot ended up running, so how many were there drinking at the time? Maybe 50? It is just amazing that people don't believe we take this as seriously as we do.”
The focus of the crackdown on underage drinking is to prevent any possible tragedies from occurring, Markella indicated. To illustrate the point, Markella recounted how, several years ago, a group of Connecticut officers located a party where underage drinking was occurring. Instead of issuing infractions, the officers simply confiscated the found alcohol and left. Later that night, a group of teenagers, all of whom had been drinking, attempted to drive home and found themselves in a fatal accident.
“You hope a tragedy doesn't have to happen for people to understand the importance of preventing underage drinking,” said Markella.
Piccerillo, however, believes that such tragedies have occurred, as Cheshire residents have been involved in accidents that have left people severely injured, yet parent-facilitated parties still continue.
“We spend a lot of time banging our heads against the wall here,” she said. “I honestly don't know what it will take.”
However, Piccerillo believes that minds and hearts can be changed, and she points to the success groups like Mothers Against Drunk Driving have had in changing the image of drunk driving and how persistent action has also changed the way people look at tobacco products.
“I think we can change people's minds,” she said.