Safety nets to avoid the tragedy include having friends looking out for friends and establishing a trust relationship between the parent and the teenager under which the teen will call the parent when the teen finds him or herself in a situation that is getting out of hand. The first thing that alcohol impairs is judgment. How can friends who have been drinking make good decisions about the condition of an intoxicated buddy? Do you trust your child’s friends to decide whether it would be all right for your child to sleep it off in a remote bedroom or to call 911? Do you trust a teen whose experiences with alcohol and driving are both limited to make a reasoned decision about whether or not four beers has significantly impaired the teen’s ability to not drive into a tree? Will your child have the sense to call you after funneling a beer? Do you think that your daughter will call you when she is very drunk and a “hot’ guy is taking off her clothes? These are life and death decisions for your child.

On Wednesday, March 8th, at 7:30 p.m. a program for parents to address this critical issue will be held in the auditorium of Darien High School. The program will feature a panel that will include David Pease, who has lost two sons in alcohol related deaths, Chief Duane Lovello of the Darien Police Department and John Hamilton of Liberation Programs. The program will be heavily advertised in town over the next month and is supported by nearly every community agency, including Darien High School. All parents are urged to save this date and come to this program. We believe that the imminent tragedy can be avoided, but only if we as a community change the message that our teens are getting about their behavior. Come. Your child’s life depends on it.