HIGHEST PRIORITY: KEEP DRUGS, ALCOHOL AWAY FROM YOUTH

VARIOUS articles were published last week regarding the proposed
alcohol ordinance fee. One piece, authored by Cheryl Miraglia (My
Word, Oct. 11), stated that most readers would agree there is some
level of alcohol abuse in every community, including the
unincorporated areas of Alameda County. She also made the point that
only a few small businesses abuse the alcohol control laws and sell
alcohol to minors.

She concluded that we need to create incentives to attract and retain
small businesses, especially restaurants in unincorporated Alameda
County -- not create more reasons for them to locate elsewhere.

CommPre and others responded to the article that they support the
proposed fee because reducing opportunities for youth to get more
alcohol is one of the most effective strategies for reducing youth
alcohol problems.

According to their piece (My Word, Oct. 12), the top three ways that
youths report receiving alcohol are from a supermarket or liquor
store, from friends, or from relatives. However, the article does not
state what percent of illegal alcohol is supplied by liquor stores or
restaurants, compared with friends and relatives.

The San Lorenzo Village Homes Association has put this item on its
agenda this week for discussion. In order to objectively determine our
position on this important matter, I believe we need better
information to help inform our community members before our board or
the Castro Valley Municipal Advisory Council decides whether to
support the proposed ordinance.

At a minimum, we need to know the answers to the following
questions:

Is this issue a serious and/or widespread problem in the
unincorporated areas at this time; is it a priority crime for the
Sheriff's Department; what are the current statistics regarding the
purchase of alcohol by minors in our area; how do we currently
penalize those businesses that break this law now; do we impose
substantial penalties; and how much does the county collect annually?
Rather than prevent the few negligent businesses from breaking the
law, will the $800 fee discourage good businesses from staying or
coming into our area? How do our neighboring communities deal with
this problem?

What conversation have we had as a region on this problem so that
youngsters simply don't go into neighboring jurisdictions to purchase
alcohol?

In addition to these editorials on alcohol, there was one on the
medical marijuana clubs, in which Sheriff Ahern expressed concern
about the community marijuana clinics.

Leaders in the San Lorenzo community believe these clinics create
serious problems for our youth because of the ease with which they can
secure marijuana.

The controls on young folks accessing marijuana appear significantly
less than those on this group securing alcohol.

Our elected officials should be concerned about developing consistent
public policy on matters that affect our youth, whether it be for
alcohol or for drugs.

Regardless of one's personal position on the use and/or sale of either
alcohol or marijuana, it is hard to argue against the fact that
neither should be easily available to our young people. It is also
undeniable that alcohol sales are legal and the sale and use of
marijuana is not. Perhaps if we were not supporting the illegal
medical marijuana outlets, the law enforcement resources currently
needed to control the sales and respond to the crimes resulting from
them would be more productively directed toward controlling the
illegal sale of alcohol to minors.