Town hall meeting creates action team
An April 3 town hall meeting on underage drinking attracted 65 adults and teens to the Peabody-Burns Junior-Senior High School cafeteria.
While free pizza and home baked cookies were an obvious incentive for attending, the primary purpose of the meeting was to "Start Talking Before They Start Drinking," a national campaign to reduce teen alcohol use.
As a result of the town hall meeting, a Peabody-Burns Action Team is being formed to continue the conversation, planning, and eventual action needed to change adult and youth behaviors that contribute to underage alcohol use and other problems.
All students grades 7 through 12, young adults, parents, grandparents, newspaper staff, city officials, youth program workers, church leaders, school staff, and others involved in the lives of district youngsters are invited to join the action team.
The first meeting will be held from 6:30 to 8 p.m. May 1 in the PBHS cafeteria.
Linda Ogden, director of Communities In Schools of Marion County, will facilitate the planning that will include a review of the town hall meeting, naming and framing the action team, identifying missing sectors, and establishing contacts and action team formats.
Anyone with questions or in need of more information about this meeting, may contact Linda at (620) 947-3184, Ken Parry at (620) 983-2188, or Cathy Silvers at (620) 983-2196.
