Letter to the Editor – Community News

To the editor:

I recently attended Friendsville Day’s with my family.  This two-day event was family-friendly, including bounce houses, pony rides, face painting, and music.  It was nice to see a community offer a family-friendly event that did not include alcohol. 

When I attend events with my grandchildren, I choose not to participate in events if alcohol is being served, and here’s reasons why:  Compared to other high schoolers in Maryland, our high school students have the highest rate of binge drinking at almost 27%.¹ Additionally, one in three young people under age 21 reported drinking alcohol in the past month.¹ Lastly, 39% of Garrett County residents reported driving while impaired, compared to the state average of 30%.² The community needs to take this issue seriously, and a good place to start is focusing on community events where young people may have easy access to alcohol.

Garrett County nonprofits host many events each year. Attendance reaches 500 or more people at larger events. Alcohol is often offered at discounted prices or available with an all-you-can-eat-and-drink ticket purchase, increasing the opportunity for attendees to buy drinks for, or share drinks with, minors and can aid in consumption of an excessive amount of alcohol in a short amount of time.

A minimum set of rules or behaviors must be established, so our youth and children observe healthier behaviors in our community when adults are consuming alcohol.

The Health Department has drafted a Resolution of Support which proposes a framework where the nonprofits can operate safely. The Resolution highlights the importance of requiring one server to be TIPS trained per 500 attendees, because the training provides the necessary skills to recognize when service should be refused due to intoxication or being underage.

Requiring event organizers to have more TIPS trained servers ensures that those who are serving alcohol to the public have the knowledge to properly check IDs, spot underage drinking, and recognize the various levels of intoxication.  If such skills are repeatedly enforced at the large nonprofit events where the underage population have easy access to alcohol, it could help prevent or at least reduce the occurrence of intoxication observed at these events.

Garrett County is a vibrant and positive community, offering many locations for a wide array of events. These events, along with the associated nonprofits, are a reflection of our heritage exclusively offered by Garrett County. I believe with the minimum framework outlined in The Resolution of Support, Garrett County will still be an excellent destination for nonprofits. However, it will set an example for our youth in Garrett County that underage and binge drinking is dangerous, along with the importance of having good, clean fun at community events.

Teresa Friend
Founder of Finding Hope to Cope

1. Youth Risk Behavior Survey Results. Maryland High School Survey- Garrett County. Updated 2016. Accessed July 2, 2019.
2. Garrett County, Maryland. County Health Rankings & Roadmaps. Updated 2019. Accessed June 11, 2019.

For Immediate Release: September 3, 2019
Contact Person: Diane Lee, PIO, 301-334-7689