{"id":67717,"date":"2016-04-26T12:53:45","date_gmt":"2016-04-26T16:53:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=67717"},"modified":"2016-04-25T22:10:35","modified_gmt":"2016-04-26T02:10:35","slug":"to-the-editor-alcohol-awareness-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=67717","title":{"rendered":"To the Editor: Alcohol Awareness Month"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"2015_Alcohol_Awareness_Month_wo-2\"<\/a>To the Editor:<\/p>\n

BRiDGES, the Madison County Council on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse, Inc., in partnership\u00a0with the Madison County Sheriff\u2019s Office, Madison County District Attorney\u2019s Office and local law\u00a0enforcement, school, and government officials, would like to take this opportunity to celebrate the\u00a0coming of spring and summer in our community, and to recognize April as Alcohol Awareness\u00a0Month. This is the time of year that we celebrate proms, graduations and other celebratory events.<\/p>\n

Although it is a particularly exciting time for students, with teens being out of school during the\u00a0summer months, it can leave them extremely vulnerable to at-risk behavior.<\/p>\n

In addition, these community partners would like to congratulate the families of graduating seniors.\u00a0Without the support, your son or daughter would have not reached this significant point in their life.\u00a0It is truly a milestone. Spring graduations are a time of pride and anticipation for bright futures; however, to your local law enforcement agencies, this time can be filled with apprehension. The culmination of high school is a time of celebrations, some of which involve teen alcohol and other drug use. Often times, teens travel to or from a graduation or prom party where alcohol and drugs are available and used. The tragic and often permanent consequences of negative youth behavior\u00a0are alarming but also preventable.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s Your Community, It\u2019s Your Call\u201d Hotline, encourages individuals to call 1-866-UNDER21 to\u00a0report underage drinking, potentially helping to stop young people from driving under the influence\u00a0of alcohol. The hotline goes directly to the State Police, who forward the call to the appropriate\u00a0jurisdiction. The anonymity of the caller is protected. This is a means and opportunity to prevent\u00a0alcohol-related incidents in your community.<\/p>\n

Parents possess the opinion most valued by your child. Research shows that 80 percent of teens report\u00a0that parents are the number one influence in their decision to use alcohol. As a parent, we\u2019re\u00a0certain you\u2019d rather work with your children on these issues as opposed to them becoming involved\u00a0with law enforcement. We ask that you talk with your teens about these very real and serious\u00a0issues. Working together, the parents and school community can combat this problem and create a\u00a0happier and much safer time for our children.<\/p>\n

Lastly, emphasize the real consequences that underage drinking can have. It must be\u00a0mentioned that at the same time we issue the following alert to adults and youth: There are serious\u00a0criminal and civil sanctions and penalties that may be brought against any individual who provides\u00a0alcohol to youth under the age of 21. In New York State, these penalties may be as fines, up to\u00a0$1,000, and up to one year in jail. Please take this seriously, as law enforcement will.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Again, congratulations to seniors and their families, and thank you for your concern in this\u00a0important matter.<\/p>\n

Sheriff Allen Riley, District Attorney William Gabor, BRiDGES\u00a0Executive Director Susan Jenkins, Oneida Police Chief David Meeker, Canastota Police Chief James Zophy, Chittenango Police Chief Fred Corey, Hamilton Police Chief Rick Gifford, Cazenovia Police Chief Michael Hayes, state police Major Frances Coots and Morrisville State College Police Chief Enrico D\u2019Alessandro<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To the Editor: BRiDGES, the Madison County Council on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse, Inc., in partnership\u00a0with the Madison County Sheriff\u2019s Office, Madison County District Attorney\u2019s Office and local law\u00a0enforcement, school, and government officials, would like to take this opportunity to celebrate the\u00a0coming of spring and summer in our community, and to recognize April as Alcohol […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":67718,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23678,3,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-letterstotheeditor","category-local","category-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=67717"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67717\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/67718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=67717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=67717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=67717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}