Latest news with #MontgomeryCountyAlcohol
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
Ohio bill would hold adults more accountable for underage drinking
Jun. 10—A bill in the Ohio General Assembly aims to curb underage drinking by making it easier to prosecute adults who make alcohol available to minors by changing only one word in Ohio law. House Bill 19 is sponsored by state Reps. Adam C. Bird, R-New Richmond, and Josh Williams, R-Sylvania Twp. It's currently before to the House Judiciary Committee. The bill would change the word "knowingly" within the Ohio Revised Code to "recklessly." "(State law) states that parents cannot 'knowingly' provide alcohol to minors," Bird states in written testimony. "We believe that this standard should be changed to 'recklessly'. By changing this one word, these parents will no longer be able to stock a fridge full of alcohol for the party and then hide behind the plausible deniability of 'not knowing' the kids got into it. This will better allow prosecutors to go after parents who host these co-ed teenage drinking parties and then turn a blind eye to what goes on when they've left the room." Bird adds in his testimony that a resident from his district knows of nine girls in one school year who woke up from a drinking party with a boy on top of them. "Co-ed teenage drinking parties have always been prevalent but recently they seem to be growing in number, intensity, and can often lead to sexual assault," Bird said. "Sexual assault in these circumstances occur because of the mixture of alcohol, genders, and lack of supervision by adults." Underage drinking has been on the decline in Montgomery County for the past 10 years, according to Tristyn Ball, director of prevention and early intervention with Montgomery County Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services. She and her team found that the underage use of vaping devices is much more prevalent than underage drinking at the moment. This is complemented by a 2023 survey conducted by the ADAMHS Board that states 6% of 3,800 students in grades 7-12 drank one or more alcoholic beverages within the past 30 days. "(That) doesn't sound like a lot, but when you look at the 75,000 students that are in Montgomery County, that's a little higher than I want to see," Ball says. "When we look at young people's perceived risk of drinking, we have almost a third of Montgomery County students that saw little to no risk drinking a couple times a week so that's definitely a measure we want to focus on." In regards to H.B. 19, Ball sees no reason that the bill shouldn't pass, but predicted possible pushback. "I think this is definitely a step in the right direction of closing some of those loopholes," Ball says. "I don't foresee any reason that people in the behavioral health field wouldn't support this. I think politically, I can see the public getting hung up on the terminology and the ambiguity of that. How do you quantify 'recklessly' versus 'knowingly.' Also, it's an additional restriction, so I feel like there could be some pushback on that as well. Other than that, I don't feel like this is an incredibly controversial bill that I see a lot of issues with." If the bill does does pass, Ball believes it will be crucial to educate the community on what's changing and what that change means.
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
‘A good thing;' Community relieved to hear mobile crisis mental health services will resume
A new provider is bringing back mobile crisis response services to Montgomery County. [DOWNLOAD: Free WHIO-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] As reported on News Center 7 at 11:00, the Montgomery County Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services (ADAMHS) recently approved a new partnership with DeCoach Recovery Centre to provide area crisis teams. TRENDING STORIES: 'We're being proactive;' University president speaks out after announcing dozens of layoffs Teen formally charged after gun with illegal 'Glock switch' found at Springfield school Driver who caused deadly school bus crash wants conviction thrown out, says trial wasn't fair Instead of sending police to handle crises, mental health experts believe a mobile crisis team could be more effective. As previously reported on News Center 7, a 75-year-old man was arrested after an hours-long SWAT standoff in Riverside on Monday. Neighbors said the man was experiencing a mental health crisis. 'That guy had a crisis on Sunday. It started early in the afternoon and he just got worse. He was in the front yard and he needed some help,' John Panella said. Panella and other neighbors in the community stood by and watched as SWAT responded to the scene early Monday morning. ADAMHS Executive Director Helen Jones-Kelly said the board believes a mobile mental health team would have helped police during this incident. 'If a crisis is going on in one house in the community, everybody's impacted, you know. Everybody's at their door, or they're out in the street. It kind of puts that person, unfortunately, under an even deeper kind of spotlight when they're not able to manage themselves well,' Jones-Kelly said. >> PREVIOUS COVERAGE: 'It's very disappointing;' County leaders left confused after crisis service provider cuts ties ADAMHS ended its last partnership with RI International because it was too expensive to maintain. 'That was the most expensive piece of the services. So right now, we're just going to get back to having a mobile crisis team that can go out,' Jones-Kelley said. Community members like Panella said they're glad these services are returning to the county. 'I think that's a good thing to have in this area because we had a lot of issues like that right now with mental health and everything,' Panella said. The service will start up in April with plans on expanding to a 24-hour response. The suicide and crisis lifeline can be called or texted anytime at 988. News Center 7 will continue to follow this story. [SIGN UP: WHIO-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
