GROUP TO FIGHT BUSINESSES THAT SELL ALCOHOL TO MINORS

WALLER -- The dangers of teen-age drinking were brought home to Paula Aaron
when her 16-year-old son totaled a car after drinking most of a six-pack of
beer he had bought at a local store.

He was hurt, but not badly enough to mend his ways. In subsequent months,
Aaron had more confrontations with her son over alcohol -- but at least
these were not at a hospital.

Things finally changed after she let him spend the night in the Waller
County Jail after he was caught drinking again, she told supporters at a
news conference Wednesday.

Wendell Aaron, now 20, learned his lesson and gave a sworn statement to
state authorities who took action against the store, his mother says.

And she has learned her lesson, too: "You can't let stores get away with
selling to minors."

She and Stewart Knight of Friendswood, another mother of a teen-age drinker,
say Texas law isn't tough enough on merchants who sell alcohol to people
under age 21.

The two were joined by law enforcement and school officials and members of
Texans Standing Tall, a new statewide group formed to combat underage
drinking, in kicking off a summer campaign.

Among other aims, the group seeks to get stores, restaurants and bars to
heed existing laws against selling to minors, and to remind minors that
breaking the age law carries serious penalties and lethal risks.

Knight knows all about those risks. Her 18-year-old son, Matthew, who
regularly drank after hours at a Friendswood pizza place where he worked,
was killed in a 1996 car accident that injured five others.

Knight said she is still fighting to get the restaurant's license revoked.
She and Aaron are trying to get legislation passed in Austin that would
reduce the bureaucratic barriers that they believe protect licensees who
sell to minors.

John Placett, an officer with the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, said
almost a third of TABC licensees still sell to minors despite increased
enforcement efforts, including sting operations.

But the problem posed by adults who buy for minors is growing more serious,
he said, "especially in house parties and `pasture' parties" -- teen
drinking bashes held in out-of-the-way rural locations.

Waller High School principal Dan Twardoski urged parents to be vigilant
about their children's activities.

"There's no substitute for asking questions," he said, "and if you don't
like the answers you get, ask some more."