OAK HILL — It’s up to the community to find solutions to the underage drinking problem plaguing us, attendees at a special forum said Tuesday night.

How to do that is the $64,000 question.

Circuit Judge Paul Blake, the keynote speaker who’s seen his share of substance abuse-related cases in his days as county prosecutor and judge, said one of the main thrusts should be pretty obvious: parents and other adults need to set good patterns for the younger generation.

“Children learn from example,” said Blake, who said he often sees the damaging effects of substance abuse in child abuse and neglect cases he adjudicates.

“There are people in this county that could care less what their children are doing,” he added. “Drugs and alcohol … form the basis for so many problems people in this room have to deal with.

“There are more questions than there are answers.”

And he said those represented, whether they were educators, church-affiliated, law enforcement or another field, all have a stake in finding solutions in helping teens discover alternatives to drinking to celebrate good times or to try to find the answer to problems such as depression.

The town hall meeting was sponsored by the Fayette County Prevention Partnership and the Youth and Family Issues Committee (Y/FIC), an off-shoot of the Fayette County Family Resource Network.

The substance abuse problem is many-pronged, but Scott Thompson says one of the ways to get a handle on it is to stress “prevention of risk,” particularly when it comes to binge drinking (defined as five or more drinks). Thompson, an addictions counselor at New River Health Association, says only a third of children 17-and-under see binge drinking as dangerous, while 47 percent of adults think it is.

“People eventually get it,” he said of the need to cut back or eliminate drinking habits, “but we still have a majority of people who see it as normal.”

While lamenting the availability of alcohol, Thompson added that he feels alcohol advertising is “a very serious part of this problem.”

For more information, contact Amber Marstiller, SPF SIG project director, at 304-640-0957, via e-mail at ambermarstiller@yahoo.com, or at P.O. Box 593, Fayetteville, WV 25840.

More information can also be obtained at www.fayettefrn.com.

For more on the forum, including a list of action steps chosen by forum participants, see Monday’s Tribune.

— E-mail: skeenan@register-herald.com