Sticking point

Teens remind adults about the legal penalty for providing alcohol to minors.

Centre SADD member Nellie Kassebaum (orange shirt) takes a sticker from Cole Srajer while Allison Basore (purple jacket) applies one to a six-pack in Carlson?s Grocery at Marion. They were participating in the annual ?Sticker Shock? project, which aims to remind adults that supplying alcohol to minors could lead to a $200 fine. Don Ratzlaff / Free Press

The rain falling Friday morning didn?t stop a group of Centre High School students from pursuing their mission.

Fortunately, the five members of the newly organized Centre SADD chapter were kept dry and busy as they participated in their first ?Sticker Shock? project inside Carlson?s Grocery in Marion.

Students applied stickers to the cardboard cases that hold six packs of beer. The stickers remind consumers that ?buying alcohol for a minor can come with a hefty price??a $200 fine and a misdemeanor on the purchaser?s legal record.

The Sticker Shock project is sponsored by the Marion County Sub?stance Abuse Prevention Coalition.

The students were accompanied by two law enforcement officers and Ashlee Gann, director of Families and Communities Together?all members of the county coalition.

Centre junior Allison Basore, who is the founder and president of the SADD chapter, said the Sticker Shock project is one way students can make a positive contribution to the community.

SADD is an acronym for Students Against Destruc?tive Decisions.

?I think it?s about kids working together, not just having adults tell us what?s good and not good,? Basore said. ?Kids can work together and decide what?s good for our community and making things better.?

Also on hand was Joy Day, chapter adviser and school counselor at Centre. She said about 30 students joined SADD in its first year.

?I knew the kids of the Peabody SADD chapter were helping with this (project), so I asked students if they would like to do it?I had every hand in the group go up.?

Joining Basore for Friday?s project were senior Nellie Kassebaum, juniors Kristin Vinduska, Abigail Svoboda and freshman Cole Srajer.

The group planned to cover alcohol outlets in Marion, Lincolnville and Florence. This Friday, the SADD chapter from Pea?body-Burns High School will cover Peabody, Hills?boro and other outlets the first group may have missed.

?We will be putting a total of 1,000 stickers on alcoholic beverages throughout the county to prevent those buying alcohol for minors,? Gann said.

Evidence for action

A recent survey of high schools in Marion County conducted by the coalition revealed some assumptions many students have in regard to destructive decisions, according to Gann.

Asked if they thought they would be caught by police if they were drinking alcohol or smoking cigarettes or marijuana, more than 80 percent of students said they would not be caught.

?It doesn?t have anything to do with police, really,? Gann said. ?What we?ve been trying to work on is law enforcement presence, because when you have a county this large and very rural, these kids don?t see a lot of police?especially if they go outside of Hillsboro or Marion, the bigger towns.

?It?s just a perception they have that ?I?m really not going to be caught?I can do whatever I want.??

Students also were asked where they are most likely to drink or smoke.

?There?s a large percentage that said ?my friend?s home or my home,?? Gann said. ?That shows that maybe parents are allowing it. Maybe they are saying, ?You can drink as long as you don?t leave here, or as long as you don?t drink and drive.?

?We really need to change that perception,? she said. ?First of all, it?s very wrong. Second of all, you are going to get into trouble if you do that.

?Research shows that the No. 1 reason kids choose not to drink is because of parent disapproval,? she said. ?If they get that, I think we would see a difference.?

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