Student Asks Council For Liquor Control

DAYTON - Dayton High School Student Carlos Oribio asked the Dayton City Council Monday night to take a tough stand and prevent youth access to alcohol amid the changes to state liquor laws since the passage of Measure 1183.

Orobio spoke on behalf of the school's Students Helping Each Other club, which has about seven core members to encourage their peers to stay away from alcohol.

Oribio said he and his club members are concerned that Measure 1183 will make it easier for teens to obtain alcohol because liquor will no longer be sold and controlled by the state.

Oribio presented to the council a Healthy Youth Survey conducted of Dayton high school seniors and sophomores in 2010. That survey showed only 8 percent of seniors think police would catch underage drinkers and 42 percent of seniors reported drinking alcohol in the two weeks leading up to the survey.

What real ly wor r ies Oribio is the 35 percent of sophomores who reported consuming alcohol at least once in the 30 days before the survey.

Another eye-opening figure for Oribio was that 69 percent of sophomores believed it was easy to obtain alcohol. He said this number in Dayton is 13 percent higher than the state average for this age group, and Oribio said he and his club members hope the city can help reduce this number. Oribio asked the council members to pass an ordinance requiring licensed businesses selling liquor to keep the liquor in a separate room of the shop and make sure youth are not allowed to enter. Or, he and the club would like to see a separate sales counter away from other merchandise to prevent youths from purchasing the liquor. Council members were supportive of Oribio and his efforts, but the members said they simply don't know enough about 1183 to make any decisions like that yet.

"We don't know all the details," Councilman Charlie Button said. "We would need to be educated."

The council agreed to have its public safety committee look into creating these regulations for those who will sell the liquor in the city of Dayton next June.

"At this point in time, we don't know who will apply for a liquor license," said Merle Jackson, mayor pro-tem. "But we're supportive. It was very helpful that you brought it to us."