DRUNK PARTY GIRLS CAUSE FOR CONCERN

They don't attend parties to baby-sit and they're tired of holding the hands
of drunken "little girls" gagging and vomitting into the toilet.

A group of Grade 12 girls met last week to decide how to deal with the
invasion of younger girls at their senior high school parties.

"They are making fools of themselves and getting bad reputations," one
17-year-old told the Driftwood. "They can't handle their alcohol."

Even more serious is the alleged sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl, now
under investigation by local RCMP, at one of these parties.

According to the 17-year-old (who is almost 18 and asked to remain
anonymous), the incident under investigation is only one of many sex-related
situations occurring between young girls attending the parties and "older
guys who see them as easy targets."

"I know of one little girl who basically had sex with someone and can't even
remember it she was so drunk."

The young girls are "grind dancing" with older males and taking off with
them in their cars.

"It's gross to see the same older guys who used to be hitting on us now
hitting on our little sisters."

The situation coincides with the release of the first half of a youth crime
prevention project which pin-points alcohol and drug abuse as the number one
crime-related concern of youth and adults on Salt Spring. (See related
story.)

In the report, project coordinators Myranda O'Byrne and Richard Kerr point
out, "Drug and alcohol use by youth is also often linked to . . . .
victimization, and a range of negative health outcomes including teenage
pregnancies (and) sexually-transmitted disease . . ."

The report says an informal survey of youths indicates that drug and alcohol
abuse often begins as early as Grade 7 for some children.

Parties on Salt Spring have traditionally included a broadly-aged assortment
of people who gather to dance, drink and listen to music.

But in the past, the 17-year-old says, girls began attending these parties
the summer before they entered Grade 11. Now, often at the urging of older
males, it is common to see a group of Grade 9 and younger girls at these
parties. (It is important not to paint all 13- and 14-year-old girls with
the same brush - many spend their weekend in other pursuits).

Kerr says Salt Spring demographics result in a high ratio of males aged
20-24 here compared to their female counterparts, most of whom have left the
island to work or attend school.

While it is important not to label every man in this age group, Kerr
stresses, it is often these males who are "hosting the parties, getting the
booze and creating some of the problem."

The situation has a chain reaction among young teens: the older guys invite
the younger girls who, in turn, draw young males to the parties, spurring
them into premature alcohol abuse as well.

The 17-year-old says: "I can't even have fun anymore because I'm worried
about where my little cousin is or where that other little girl is. None of
us (older girls) want them there."

The Grade 12 girls feel they have to baby-sit the younger ones - "hold their
hair away from their faces as they throw-up in the bathroom," and steer them
away from preying males.

The young girls' inexperience with alcohol exacerbates the problem.

"We learned our limits in private - hanging out and having a beer or two.
When you're ready to handle it, that's when you go out," the 17-year-old
says.

Community Services Society youth worker Norma Thompson agrees.

"A 17-year-old has developed more of a tolerance," she says. "When kids are
just starting to drink, one beer can put them into a state of impairedness."

Girls in their early teens are very impressionable, Thompson adds - it's a
big deal to be invited to a party by an older boy because the young girls
"really want to fit in. But this is also when they get taken advantage of."

In addition to having physical limitations, young teens do not have the
maturity to handle alcohol, O'Byrne says. "They don't think ahead, they
don't plan for a designated driver, they have no place to sleep."

The Grade 12 girls wonder why parents aren't holding tighter reigns on their
daughters - checking up on them and ensuring their safety.

"There is definitely a part of Salt Spring that thinks youth drinking is
just part of growing up," says local RCMP Sgt. Paul Darbyshire. "(They think
that) as long as they take drinking and driving precautions, everything will
be all right."

But grabbing car keys from potential impaired drivers does not prevent the
sexual assaults, physical assaults and drug abuse that often accompanies
alcohol abuse at these parties.

Young teens really need parental guidance, O'Byrne says, even though the
temptation is to grant them more freedom at this age. And parents should
support each other in determining whether or not teens are at the location
they said they'd be.

"It needs to become part of the parental culture to check up on them," she
says.

In the next few months, parents may have no choice but to deal with their
drunk young teenagers. The Grade 12 girls who met last week agreed to put
the problematic girls in taxis and send them home.

"The parents will have to pay for it; they'll get woken up at whatever hour
and have to deal with this drunk girl."

Thompson thinks this is an excellent solution - "They'd be doing them a
favour," she says.

In the meantime, older guys who see the young girls as easy targets should
make themselves aware of the law, police advise.

According to the Criminal Code, the age of "consent" for a girl to have sex
is 14. In other words, it is not a defence for a male to claim a 13-year-old
girl agreed to have sex with him. (However, the law can be challenged if the
male is less than two years older than girl and if she is over 12.)

And young girls should think twice before they start drinking at older kids'
parties. They might find themselves in taxis on their way home to their
parents or, worse, they could wake up the next morning to find themselves
victims of sexual assault.