McHenry County launching task force to tackle underage drinking

McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler was steamed last year when state officials overturned his decision to revoke a gas station's liquor license after it was caught selling alcohol to minors three times in eight months.

But rather than just stew over his inability to cut off a supplier of booze to teens, he began planning to do something about the demand.

Those plans will come to fruition this month as McHenry County launches its Underage Drinking Prevention Task Force, a panel that will work to discourage drinking among young people and encourage parents to take a hard stance on the issue. The county board is expected to formally endorse the proposal Tuesday.

"The object here is really education, to get to the parents that there is a serious problem out there and they're the ones that are going to make a difference," Koehler said.

Koehler began planning for the task force after the Illinois Liquor Control Commission reversed his decision to strip a McHenry-area gas station of its right to sell alcohol. Koehler pulled the business' license after police sting operations caught its employees repeatedly selling alcohol to minors.

"It ticked me off so much, and I thought there had to be other ways we can address this issue from a positive angle," he said.

Koehler said he also is troubled by numbers from the Illinois Youth Survey, which in 2008 showed that more than half of high school seniors in the county drink alcohol.

The task force, he said, will be similar to one launched about two years ago in Lake County and will spread its message through schools, news media, community groups, billboards and any other means available.

"There are a lot of groups out there now working on this and doing a good job, but we're not doing it on a countywide basis," he said. "It's going to take some time, but I think we'll see results from this."

The message will be directed at not just teens, but also their parents. And for good reason, said Joe Williams, the county's assistant regional superintendent of schools and the proposed chairman of the task force.

Studies on the subject, Williams said, show that children are less likely to drink when their parents let them know they disapprove of it. But according to the Illinois Youth Survey, only 72 percent of McHenry County teenagers in 2008 said their parents have let them know they won't stand for underage drinking.

"I'd like parents to let our young men and women understand that we don't approve of that behavior," Williams said.

Most parents, Algonquin Deputy Police Chief Ed Urban said, are responsible about underage drinking, but there are rare occasions when adults think they're helping by supplying their teens with alcohol at home.

"The logic is that if they're doing it under (a parent's) supervision, then nothing bad will happen," Urban said. "Unfortunately, the kids aren't always going to be under supervision. And if they get used to drinking, they're going to find a way to do it when they're not under supervision."

Williams said whether the task force accomplishes its goal of reducing drinking among teens will largely depend on its ability to bring together interested groups from across the county to tackle the issue.

"I do believe we can have some success, and I think the power of this is going to be the synergy we get from bringing everyone together," he said.