Meeting is worth the time

To the editor:

A Marion County Community Briefing on Underage Drinking will be at 6:30 p.m. April 15 in the Hillsboro High School Auditorium, beginning with a free dessert buffet. I urge all parents of teens and tweens to attend.

We know Marion County kids are good kids, but no child is immune and no family is perfect. Substance abuse affects everyone — directly or indirectly.

Parents and kids need to know what alcohol does to the developing brain. We all need to be reminded of the Kansas Laws regarding underage drinking, social hosting, and related statutes. The April 15 event will cover these topics.

As a lead-in to the meeting, you might want to watch an important and eye-opening program presented by Kansas Public Television Station at 7 p.m. April 8. The public television special is entitled, “Your Kids Are Drinking.” It is a documentary focusing on the issues of underage drinking and how it affects youth. It was produced by the public television network in Nebraska along with the Nebraska Office of Highway Safety, Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, and Mutual of Omaha. 

It shows interviews of youth in a candid discussion about alcohol, patrons at a small town street dance where alcohol is served, and cameras capturing underage decoys at convenience stores and restaurants attempting to buy alcohol. It also focuses on a family who lost a son in an alcohol-related incident.

The Wichita-based station may have a live panel discussion after airing the program. 

Please put these two educational opportunities at the top of your to-do list. There is nothing more important than the welfare of our children, and underage alcohol use is certainly a threat to that well-being. Contact me if you need more information at linda.ogden@usd410.net or call me at (620) 947-3184.

Linda Ogden
Executive Director
Communities in Schools of Marion County