Community Conversation on Underage Drinking

At last year's Staples High School Homecoming, many students showed up drunk, and some were taken by ambulance to the hospital for emergency treatment. Staples High School Principal John Dodig, other community leaders, and concerned parents met at the Westport Library last October to address this community concern.

This year, several days before homecoming, Westport Library and Staples High School PTA will co-sponsor a Conversation in the Community on Underage Drinking on Tuesday, October 26, at 7:30 p.m., in the Bedford Middle School Cafeteria. The venue was changed from the Library in order to accommodate more people, and middle- and high-school parents and especially students are all invited to participate.

Each year in the United States, about 5,000 people under the age of 21 die as a result of drinking. Many more suffer alcohol-related car accidents, and recent medical evidence also points to the particularly harmful effects of underage drinking on the developing adolescent brain. It is not surprising, then, that underage drinking has become one of this country's leading health problems, and our community is not immune.

Principal Dodig will open the program by reporting on steps taken to reduce the likelihood of drinking at Homecoming and review student and parental responsibilities. TEAM Westport member Nicholas Rudd will then moderate an open forum for everyone to discuss this important, persistent community problem.

For more information, check the library's website, www.westportlibrary.org, or call 203-291-4800.