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Local teens voice their concerns about underage drinking during a conference session Thursday at the Performing Arts Center at Lincoln High School. DOUG ALFT/For the Wausau Daily Herald

Posted September 28, 2007

Students discuss concerns about underage drinking

By Karen Madden
For the Wausau Daily Herald

WISCONSIN RAPIDS -- Eighty-nine people from the area plunged into the issue of underage drinking Thursday with a seminar that covered almost every angle of the problem.

Underage drinking's legal, medical, insurance and victim impacts were some of the topics discussed during the immersion into the state's underage drinking problem. Wisconsin has the highest rate of underage drinking in the country, said Ronda Kopelke, director of the Marshfield Clinic Center for Community Outreach.

"We know, in Wisconsin, that 49 percent of high school students are drinking," Kopelke said. "We need to medicalize this issue -- truly recognize what it is and take some action."

As part of the seminar, participants watched a filmed presentation of a Minnesota couple who lost three of their five sons to a drunken driver in 2004. Following the film, a panel of seven teens shared their feelings about the film and drinking with the adults.

Assumption student Allie Chapman saw the presentation last week when the couple spoke in person at her school. The parents brought the clothes the three boys were wearing during the crash and laid them out for the students to see, making a big impact on the students.

"They were cut so you know they had to cut them off the body," Chapman said.

Victoria Gurtler of East Junior High School saw the presentation for the first time Thursday. Seeing film of the boys singing Christmas carols at a much younger age was most striking for her.

The panel of students told the adults drinking is a problem among their peers, but they want to make a difference. Many of the panel members pledged to be proactive about stopping drinking.

Aaron Swanson of East Junior High School said he remembers a friend coming to lunch one day and talking about having a hangover from the weekend. Swanson regretted not confronting his friend.

"If I ever hear that again, I'll try to prevent them from drinking," he said.

Taking a stand on drinking isn't easy for teenagers, said Dr. Douglas Reding, administrative vice president for the Marshfield Clinic.

"It takes a lot of courage to stand up there and talk about this," he said.