3/26/2008 9:54:00 AM Underage drinking to take center stage A town hall will address alcohol and youth
A number of local organizations and community leaders plan to hold a town hall meeting at the Williams Recreation Center in order to examine underage drinking in the Williams area. The meeting, set for April 1, will begin at 5:30 p.m. Agencies such as the Coconino County Sheriff's Office, the Coconino County Attorney's Office, Coconino County Board of Supervisors, Williams City Council members and city personnel and a number of other organizations have been asked to take part in the event, according to co-organizer Rob Krombeen. Krombeen chairs the Access and Tolerance Committee, a sub-committee of the Williams Alliance. Interested individuals in the community are also invited to the meeting.
"There are different types of town hall formats, some of which (are) where people come together and get information that they're supposed to take away and do something with. This is going to be very different," Krombeen said. "We're trying to get various segments of the community involved, leadership, vendors, liquor licensees, business owners, civic leaders and educators in the community coming together."
A professional facilitator will also be on hand during the town hall forum, he said.
"He's going to break us out into actual work groups to work within sub groups to identify key problems related to underage drinking in the community and then come up with real solutions to start to implement a plan and a vision to help make some change and effect underage drinking in the community," Krombeen said.
The town hall will also offer a panel discussion, along with short question and answer periods.
"It's going to be a working town hall to actually try to come up with some real solutions that we can impart, over time, and try to effect this issue that's facing our community," Krombeen said. "Vendors who have liquor licenses, we're asking them to actually be a part of the solution, within the group, to give input regarding this. Educators, medical professionals, faith-based leaders, those are all some of the groups from the surrounding area that we're trying to get involved."
The ultimate goal of the April 1 meeting, he said, would be to find solutions to underage drinking that would be realistic in nature.
"We're looking at long-range strategy and to do things in steps that are reasonable and would be implement-able in the community," Krombeen said. "We're not looking for sudden change. We're not saying that, realistically, we think we're going to totally resolve this problem, but it has been identified as a problem and we want to do something about it. We want to come away with some real ideas and implement-able solutions that can take us in the direction toward a different mindset and a different attitude toward underage drinking in the community, where we can begin to see down a road. Through a change in our way of thinking about underage drinking, we can actually do something to help minimize the effects that it's been having in the community."
Though there is limited space, the public is invited to attend the event, Krombeen said.
"Those who are interested in this issue in the community are welcome and invited to attend," Krombeen said. "We're thinking big, but we also, realistically, have limited space. We have to have manageable sized groups."
Patricia Helgeson, of the Williams Alliance, said the town hall meeting is a part of a national effort geared toward alcohol prevention for youth.
"Town hall meetings, nation wide, are being supported by the federal government. There are approximately 2,000 town hall meetings going on simultaneously nationwide during alcohol prevention week," Helgeson said. "These town hall meetings are receiving support from the federal government and from local governments in order for communities to come together and identify and support prevention efforts for underage drinking."
