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Kym Laube, the director of the Human Growth and Understanding Seminars, believes that it takes a village to raise a child. In fact, she credits Westhampton Beach Village, where her organization is based, for keeping her on the right path in life.
“There were people in the village who helped me along the way,” said Ms. Laube, explaining that several women, whom she credits as her mentors, encouraged her to partake in community service rather than partying following a few close calls with local law enforcement at age 16.
“I was a kid who was on probation,” she said. “I’d say my life really changed.”
Today, Ms. Laube dedicates her time to HUGS, an organization that “strives to empower youth with the skills necessary to navigate through life’s challenges,” according to its mission statement. Ms. Laube tries to help the youth of Westhampton Beach the same way she was helped so many years ago: by offering them options, such as retreats, and guidance from their peers.
She maintains that only a collaborative effort between schools, parents and community leaders can deter alcohol use during the difficult and sometimes tumultuous years that can follow puberty.
That was the message that Ms. Laube, along with representatives from Alternative Counseling Service, local government and Southampton Town Police, conveyed on Monday evening when they called for a collective community effort to curb the effects of underage drinking. The forum, titled “Parents Who Host Lose the Most: Don’t Be a Party to Teenage Drinking” and held at the Stony Brook Southampton campus, aimed to educate community members on how to prevent underage drinking.
Organizers said the forum, attended by about 55 community members, was held at an appropriate time. In March, Erick Jimenez, a 17-year-old Hampton Bays High School student, was injured when he fell out of a moving luxury bus in Montauk. Erick was part of a group of 38 teens, all between the ages of 13 and 19, who had chartered a 1997 Prevost “party bus” from M&V Limousines in Commack to take them, with a deejay on board, from Hampton Bays to the Montauk Lighthouse, and then to the beach.
East Hampton Town Police said the bus driver, Carlos Rodriguez of Smithtown, had obtained alcohol for the teens. Mr. Rodriguez was subsequently charged with endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor.
And at this year’s Westhampton Beach St. Patrick’s Day Parade, held on March 14, a 14-year-old girl had to be rushed to Peconic Bay Medical Center in Riverhead after suffering alcohol poisoning. Police said the girl, who they declined to identify, was found passed out on a park bench on Main Street.
Ms. Laube cited instances, like the annual Westhampton Beach St. Patrick’s Day Parade, as proof that parents sometimes look the other way when it comes to underage drinking. “The one drug that kills all of our kids is the one we give them all the time,” she said.
According to statistics provided Monday night by forum organizers, 29 percent of 811 kids surveyed said they know parents who host teen parties where alcohol is available. Additionally, 27 percent of those students surveyed said they engaged in binge drinking within the last month and 30 percent report drinking regularly. The survey was conducted by the Drug-Free Action Alliance, which is based in Ohio.
Those were troubling figures for those attending Monday’s forum. Other shared information stated that those teenagers who start drinking by age 15 are five times more likely to develop an alcohol dependency later in life.
Christina Episania, the director of Alternative Counseling Service, a substance abuse treatment center in Southampton, said that some parents who serve alcohol to those under age 21, in the hopes of keeping tabs on them, could actually be causing more harm then good.
“How can we implement safety in our community?” asked Ms. Episania.
Some suggestions offered by forum presenters included refusing to supply alcohol to anyone under 21, talking to other parents who are hosting parties, and offering teenagers more alcohol-free activities.
There was also a consensus among presenters that children learn behavior from the adults in their lives, and that a community as a whole must learn to put less of an emphasis on celebrating events with alcohol.
“We, as adults, must model behavior that will change this,” said Stony Brook University Police Deputy Chief Patricia Sarubbi, who was one of five panelists.
Ms. Laube stressed that community members should support those parents who wish to stop underage drinking, and give them a platform to speak their mind. She said that far too frequently, parents who do not allow underage drinking in their homes feel like the underdog.
“We don’t need to give into this because we think it is going to happen anyway,” she said.
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