PORTSMOUTH
The Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control plans to award $10,000 to a local organization today to help fight underage drinking.
The nonprofit organization associated with Brighton Rock AME Zion Church is one of seven groups across the state that are receiving a grant. It plans to hold a series of workshops for elementary and middle school children and their parents.
Each workshop will end with a mock trial demonstrating Virginia's underage drinking laws, and participants will be tested on their knowledge of the consequences of underage drinking.
"Nobody else had anything like that," ABC spokesman Kathleen Shaw said.
It's the first community coalition grant the agency has made to a faith-based organization, Shaw said.
The Rev. Clifford D. Barnett, chief executive officer of Brighton's Solid Rock Inc., said he assembled a coalition of representatives from Behavioral Healthcare Services, law enforcement and the ABC board to come up with the workshop idea.
"The quicker they make good decisions about the use and abuse of alcohol, the better their lives will be," Barnett said.
The workshops are scheduled to begin in mid-September. Anyone can participate, and dinner will be provided. For more information, call (757) 393-0570.
Jen McCaffery, (757) 446-2627, jen.mccaffery@pilotonline.com
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Let's see the facts
When the Church spends the money, let's see a detailed account of how the money was spent, and I don't mean the receipt for a BMW car payment either.
Props and Praise
Props and Praise for Rev. Barnett. Please check out what he and his church members have accomplished. If we had more like him we'd have fewer gang members to lock up. God Bless Rev. Cliff Barnett.
HERE'S A THOUGHT
If you read the ABC (Alcohol & Beverage Control) web site...they rave at having contributed outstanding monies. Well let me see...if that IS the case...then they are selling "outstanding" amounts of alcohol which does in fact contribute to??? Yep...you guessed it. I do commend them for attempting to remedy the problem, however I still feel better control is needed where the drugs are sold and Alcohol IS a drug to some people. Also, it does no good to distribute literature to people who can not read. First we must teach them to read.
$10,000.00
You can consider it wasted. These do-gooder programs are for do-gooders only, not teenagers.
ANYONE CAN ATTEND???
If you are going to receive funds to "curb underage drinking" WHY would you not target those people who would have the most to gain from your program??? It sounds to me like the church found a way to increase their budget...but...that's just my opinion.
Makes the adults feel like they're doing something
Yea, but it makes the adults feel like they're doing something useful. It was a long time ago but I still remember all those little seminars and classes they forced us to attend and the gore films they showed to get a driver's license. Does anyone really think they can have a significant influence over a personality formed over 16 years or so in a few hours?
Statistically speaking
these programs don't work and are a waste of money.
WASTE OF MONEY
What a joke - $10,000 to "fight" underage drinking, yeah, right. I don't see the connection between throwing money at a Reverend and stopping kids from drinking.
Aren't the members of the church supposed to donate for these busy-body do-gooder workshops and not the state?