Gov. Gary Herbert kicks off campaign against underage drinking

By Lisa Riley Roche, Deseret News

SALT LAKE CITY — The fifth year of the "Parents Empowered" campaign against underage drinking kicked off Tuesday with Gov. Gary Herbert and other state leaders urging Utahns to pay attention.

"The goal really is one of just education. This is not the heavy hand of government," Herbert said during a news conference at the state Capitol where the latest television commercials were shown.

The spots focused on the impact parental involvement can have in preventing young people from starting to drink. One commercial, for example, showed an older couple talking excitedly about attending the prom while their daughter and her date squirmed.

Attorney General Mark Shurtleff and several legislative leaders in attendance noted the program was spared from this year's massive budget cuts. It costs money, Shurtleff said, "to grab the attention of people."

But funding for the campaign, credited with keeping 11,000 fewer Utah children from trying alcohol between 2007 and 2009, was reduced last year by the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.

The $500,000 sliced from the program's nearly $1.5 million budget in the year that ended June 30 helped spark a battle with lawmakers that resulted in less money for the department and an ongoing audit.

Last session, legislators restored $500,000 to Parents Empowered and, in effect, took away the department's control over the program's budget. And they ordered the DABC to cut another $653,000 in the new budget year that began July 1.

The DABC, which manages the state's monopoly on the sale of liquor, wine and high-alcohol beer, generates significant revenues for the state, including more than $26 million for school lunches.

DABC officials have been vocal about their concerns over losing revenue as a result of the cuts, but auditors said it's not clear that will be the case. Officials decided earlier this year to open some stores one hour later and close a store at 1457 S. Main on Oct. 1.

The governor said tough decisions have to be made in the budget process.

"For me, educating our parents and our young people about the downside of underage drinking is clearly a priority," Herbert said. "The return on our investment on this is significant. We ought not to, although it helps, be basing our budgets on alcohol revenue."

Senate President Michael Waddoups, R-Taylorsville, who has admitted to being "kind of rankled" by the cuts to the Parents Empowered program, said it should be even better funded.

"This is always going to be a priority. There are places you can cut other than this that make sense," Waddoups said. "We want the program, if anything, to expand, but certainly to maintain the status quo."

Sam Granato, chairman of the DABC commission, said the state needs to decide what's most important, but the department is a money-maker.

"We're the best bang for the dollar in these economic times," Granato said.

The Legislative Auditor General's Office is expected to release a more detailed examination of the department next week.

Link: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700063635/Gov-Gary-Herbert-kicks-off-campaign-against-underage-drinking.html