Members of the Drug-Free Task Force Coalition met for the second time Thursday afternoon at the Tifton Police Dept. to discuss ways to decrease underage drinking and get the attention of those in the community who might think there isn’t a problem with it.

“I think our group will grow as people begin to take note of the cause and affects of underage drinking,” said Lt. Steve Hyman of the Tifton Police Dept., who serves as the chairman of the Tift County Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition.

Members of city and county law enforcement, local agencies who assist families, children and teenagers and other community members interested in curtailing underage drinking attended the meeting.

Hyman said the group first met two weeks ago and brainstormed on how to get the message across to the community, particularly those young people who drink before the legal age.

Sheriff Gary Vowell was on hand and presented the group a check for $10,000. He said the money came from his department’s drug forfeiture funds and he believed the group would spend it wisely.

Vowell recounted how he had, just last week, received a call from the father of a 17-year-old who had been arrested for DUI. The father told him that his child had purchased the alcohol from a local store. Vowell said in the majority of the cases, the clerks who get caught selling alcohol to minors are cited.

“I think it’s time we all step up and we all get involved,” Vowell said. “Ministers and parents need to be here today.”

Vowell said the parents of some of the children arrested for drinking underage get upset with officers who charge the children.

“But, the worse thing we have to do is knock on a door and tell parents their child is dead,” Vowell said.

Vowell encouraged those present to contact others before the next meeting and encourage them to attend.

Tifton Mayor Jamie Cater said he has a heart for young people. He said witnessing a large crowd of young people that gathered at the scene of a wreck that was fatal to two of their young friends impressed him. He said that the wreck was the result of alcohol and high-speed driving and that he asked for a show of hands from the onlookers and asked them how many of them had driven while they were drinking.

“Every one of them raised their hands,” Cater said. “We’ve missed the boat. We put the message on ads and in the media and I don’t know what it takes to get the message out.”

Lorenzo Williams, the director of PLIGHT, said that he believed there should be a concerted effort to reach children as early as middle school age with the message to abstain from drinking.

Hyman said he had recently seen statistics that placed Tift County above DeKalb County in the number of underage drinking arrests. The difference between here and there, he said, was that Dekalb County had more activities for young people.

“We need to think about that and try to keep them occupied,” he said.