The Griffon News

The authors of From Binge to Blackout, Toren and Chris Volkmann, will be  coming to St. Joseph and Missouri Western State university in a community forum to address binge drinking and underage intoxication on Sept 13. The Volkmann family will be speaking at Missouri Western  in the afternoon and then at 6p.m. in a town hall meeting. They bring a message of awareness and education.

Angie Reynolds, Drug Free Community organizer, worked with the Saint Joseph Youth Alliance and Missouri Western to bring this opportunity to our community.

“Through our state incentive grant that we funded to do alcohol prevention, we are charged with the duty to address underage and binge drinking from ages 12 to 25,” Reynolds said. “So basically the purpose of the town hall meeting is to invite community members, parents and teenagers to come listen to the presentation and talk about social issues and norms, and what we can do to stay involved.”

Binge drinking is consuming five or more alcohol drink in one sitting. In Saint Joseph the average kid is starting to drink at the age of 12.

Cpl. Bob Benning, Missouri Western Campus security, sees the problem less frequently these days and considers that it may be a problem for younger kids.

“I think perception of college students drinking is a little misunderstood.” Benning said. “I think the general public perceives that all college students are binge drinkers and the true fact is that 88 percent are not. Just like in greater society, a small percentage does something and the perception is that everyone of that group does that thing. In the city of Saint Joseph it is 12.7 years of age that kids drink on average. What the youth alliance is trying to achieve is to raise the age that kids start drinking. What we would like to do is get kids to start drinker closer to the legal age”.

“I started drinking around 14 and 15,” Toren Volkmann said. “By the time I finished college I wanted something different. I went into the Peace Corp. in South Africa and that is where the problem really kicked in. Alcohol was running my social life. We tend to look the other way, but alcoholism is a bigger problem than most people suspect. It’s hard on families, health systems and the economy.”

“Toren is really good at talking to students,” Chris Volkmann said. “I just want to get out there and talk to the communities and let people know that it is necessary that we get involved in each others’ lives, we can’t just keep going on pretending these problems don’t exist.”