Sheriff sees rise in youth drinking

The weather is getting warmer and school is out, which means more young people will be having camping trips and parties, which often contain alcohol.

“We’ve definitely seen a larger increase this year than in other years,” Sanders County Sheriff Gene Arnold said. “This year has definitely taken off with a bang.”

Arnold said he, along with the rest of the Sanders County Sheriff’s Office, are trying to get the world out to the community about juveniles and minors drinking. A juvenile is anyone under the age of 17, while a minor is someone between the age of 18-21.

He said there has especially been an outbreak within the past month, likely due to warmer weather and it being graduation time.

Not only is there a problem with underage youth drinking, but there are consequences when such parties or gatherings are broken up by the police. “A lot of them run from police when we get out there to break up one of these parties,” Arnold said. Some of them run through the woods, potentially getting hurt or lost, while others run to their cars, which is dangerous to have someone who has been drinking behind the wheel.

“When they do this kind of thing, like run from us, we have a responsibility to help them and make sure they’re all right,” he said. “Our liability skyrockets, and we have to make sure that everyone is safe.”

Arnold said that during his time in law enforcement, which has been 21 years, he has seen the deaths of six juveniles directly because of alcohol use. “I feel like we unfortunately would’ve seen more, but there has been a lot of pressure on DUIs and that has curtailed some of it,” he said.

Arnold said the sheriff’s department takes underage drinking very seriously and think everyone should know about the consequences associated with drinking underage. “There has been multiple research in the medical community that shows drinking is no good for people under 21, because their brain is not yet developed.”

Arnold said that they will definitely act on it, if underage drinking is reported or spotted, however he stresses that the sheriff’s office cannot watch it all and they need the public’s involvement to help as well.

Anyone who believes that they might have information on underage drinking in the area can report it to the sheriff’s office anonymously. “A couple of our last tips came from people who did not want their name known and that is fine, people can definitely report it anonymously,” Arnold said.

The biggest bust the sheriff’s department has dealt with so far was on June 1 near Prospect Creek off of Highway 471 at around 1 a.m. Deputies Martin Spring and Shawna Chenoweth responded to the call and were assisted by Nate Snead of the Forest Service. At the scene they recovered a 16-gallon keg and numerous cases of beer.

Arnold said several of the people at the party ran and one person was charged with obstructing a police officer, 10 were charged with possession of alcohol, four for unlawful transactions with a child, there were two charges of endangering the welfare of children by providing alcohol, and the was one alluding charge when the suspect tried to get away in his vehicle. Three were arrested and brought to jail and the rest were cited in court.

Arnold said the important thing is to make sure that everyone is safe and that the police officer’s are responsible when the bust them. “All the parents were contacted and either came to the scene or to the sheriff’s office,” he said.

On June 5, officers responded to a call just east of Thompson Falls at a house party. Officers originally were called out due to loud music. Another call when out June 3 in the lower Lynch Creek area in Plains. Six minors were charged with possession of alcohol, there was one person charged with having an open container in a vehicle and one person was charged with endangering minors for providing alcohol. All of these offensives were cited in court and Snead, Plains Police Chief Shawn Emmitt and Chenoweth all responded.

Sanders County Undersheriff Rube Wrightsman said that the sheriff’s office is “running like a well oiled machine, so the kids don’t get well oiled.”

Wrightsman also said that they’re really trying to cite the adults who are providing the minors with alcohol. He said most of the time it is young Adults, friends and older family members, like brothers and sisters, who provide the alcohol at these parties. However, it isn’t unheard of for parents to provide alcohol to their children.

Wrightsman and Arnold recalled citing parents at private parties who let their underage children drink.

“I think we do see some parents supply it to their children, but for the most part it seems to be young adults supplying it,” Wrightsman said.

Both Wrightsman and Arnold stress the fact that parents need to be vigilant as to what their children are doing and that underage drinking should not be tolerated.

“We need to send a clear message that drinking when you’re under the age of 21 is not safe and that there will be consequences to it,” Arnold said.