JAY – Maine first lady Karen Baldacci encouraged people to challenge their students to find solutions to prevent underage drinking during a forum Wednesday night, one of 28 scheduled around Maine this year

“Challenge the children and you will be amazed. Let them take back their schools,” Baldacci said. “I think their voices will tell you why they’re drinking.”

It has been a problem, and it is a community problem, and it needs a community solution, she said.

It’s not only a Maine issue or a Livermore Falls issue, it is a national issue, she added.

She said she is vigilant as a parent and encouraged others to do the same.

Alcohol is a gateway drug and leads to stronger drug use, Baldacci said.

She said she has studied CAT scans of 15-year-olds brains and has seen the effect of alcohol on them. There is brain damage, she said.

Surveys indicate that half of high school seniors have had a drink in the last month. Children are starting to drink alcohol as young as elementary school age and the effect is they’re more likely to become dependent on it than if they had waited until the legal age of 21.

“We have a problem with underage drinking and it is costing us,” Baldacci said.

She said it is up to the community to find ways to reduce use and access to alcohol.

“Most kids don’t drink,” she said.

Though surveys indicate underage drinking is higher in the greater Franklin County area, including Livermore and Livermore Falls, than state average, surveys show that in Franklin County 64.7 percent of students in grades six through 12 have not consumed alcohol in the past 30 days, said Lisa Laflin, project coordinator for the Healthy Community Coalition.

“Research shows that misperceptions that everybody is doing it, actually make young people more likely to drink alcohol,” Laflin said.

On the other hand, when these misperceptions are corrected, and kids realize that not everybody’s doing it, they are less likely to drink alcohol, Laflin said.

“We need to spotlight positive trends as well as challenging ones,” she said.

Laflin said she was startled to find alcohol use begins at earlier age in the region, about 7 percent higher than the state average.

Amanda Pelkey, a health teacher in SAD 36, said a colleague found it startling to have high school students come to school and talk about their parents buying a 30-pack of beer and then going ice fishing with them.

A survey taken by Livermore Falls High School juniors indicate that 57 percent drank alcohol in the past 30 days, and it was close to 50 percent for sophomores and juniors.

“One of the biggest things we could do is provide education to parents,” Pelkey said.

The perception that underage drinking is acceptable needs to change as well as parents providing alcohol to children, she said.

Karen Haley, a substance abuse counselor at Jay School Department, agreed with Pelkey that more after-school and weekend activities need to be provided for students.

“I see the impact of underage drinking daily,” she said, and it is absolutely a problem.

She finds students using alcohol to cope with loss, grief, divorce and other challenges in their lives.

“We need to teach kids to cope,” Haley said.

Police Chief Larry White Sr. agreed there is a drinking problem and he sees some parents close their eyes to it.

“It’s out there and until we change the cultural thinking it’s going to happen,” White said.

He said laws need to be strengthened against those who provide alcohol to minors or a place to consume it.

Livermore Falls Middle School student Megan Norris said children need parents who care and places to go and things to do to have alternatives to drinking.