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Monday, October 20, 2008
Underage drinking is everyone’s problem
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The issue about under age drinking on college campuses has been on my mind a lot.
Then I saw this story on The Citizen Newspaper’s website last week: Officials confirmed Friday that eight McIntosh football cheerleaders were suspended this week for being intoxicated with alcohol while at last week’s varsity football game. The cheerleaders received a 10-day out of school suspension, said schools spokesperson Melinda Berry-Dreisbach.
Because it is their first offense that suspension can be reduced to seven days if they choose to participate in an alcohol and drug intervention program, she added
Also, they will be suspended from participating in 25 percent of their remaining season, Dreisbach said. That suspension is also called for in the system’s student code of conduct, Dreisbach explained.
It was fortunate that the cheerleaders’ impairment didn’t lead to injuries while they and their teammates were performing stunts during the game, Dreisbach said. So, while it’s a problem at colleges across the nation, it’s obviously a problem at the high school level. But the real issue that I continue to wrestle with is just how to solve this problem…or at least make some headway.
Lower the drinking age to 18? Maybe, but I’m not convinced that will help. And the other thing I think about is that I don’t believe this is a problem in Europe, where alcohol is readily available to all ages. Feel free to correct me on that one. I did live in Rome for almost four years, but that was 20 years ago and maybe things have changed. In those days I saw wine flowing freely amongst all ages. And I can’t recall seeing any disorderly Europeans doing foolish things.
So, please share your thoughts on how this issue can be resolved. What has to happen for under age drinking to stop being a problem?
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