Moundsville, WV – February 5, 2009: 

45 of 48 Marshall County Clerks Allow Teens to Purchase Alcohol: Where do we go from here?

Underage drinking is beginning to reach epidemic levels for Marshall County and for communities across the country. Studies show that kids are beginning to drink as early as age 10 and the amount of teen DUI’s and alcohol related teen arrests have increased. It is well known that youth get alcohol in various ways; whether it’s through their own home, their friends or by asking an adult to buy it for them. In Marshall County, teen’s access to alcohol appears to be far more convenient and comes from a potentially more dangerous location.

Last year, the Marshall County Sheriff’s Department conducted 48 “compliance checks”. At each location, an underage inspector was sent in to purchase alcoholic beverages. At the time of purchase, the teen was prepared to present their Drivers License which clearly stated they were underage. Out of the 48 compliance checks carried out, 45 clerks sold to minors. In most cases, the store associate never asked for identification and even when the question was asked, they either ignored the fact that the inspector was underage or they entered in their own birth date to process the sale. The 45 associates at fault were given tickets and could either pay the fine or attend a retailer education program called TIPS (Training for Intervention ProcedureS), which has been proven successful in the training of severs and sellers of alcohol on responsible beverage sales practices.

Understanding the problems this issue presented for the community and with the information from the 2008 Compliance Checks, the Marshall County Family Resource Network applied for and was recently awarded the Purdue Pharma Asset Forfeiture Funds Grant. The grant funds will be used to increase the Compliance Checks as well as provide the necessary TIPS training to retailers. The Marshall County FRN and Marshall County Sheriff’s Department share the same goal, to drive down underage alcohol sales through education and enforcement. By educating these local merchants on the responsible service, sale and consumption of alcohol, teens will be denied access through one of their primary sources. For further information on the TIPS training program, visit www.gettips.com and for future updates on the 2009 Compliance Checks for Marshall County, visit www.marshallcountyfrn.com.