The percentage of 12th grade males who said they use alcohol at least monthly was 56 percent and the rate for 12th grade girls was 40 percent. Dave Buker, counselor for Little Falls Community High School, said the high rate of monthly alcohol use by youth in Morrison County is not due to a single variable, but more likely, the result of a series of interrelated issues. Part of it has to do with the ethnicity of the area, he said. There are a lot of people in our area of European heritage, where beer consumption is part of life. It s engrained.
Some kids are, in some ways, weaned on beer.
You worked on the farm all day with Dad and then you sat down and had a beer. Heritage and parental attitudes, I believe, are probably the most important reasons for the high rates. Similar to the high rate of youth alcohol use, cigarette smoking by youth also continues to be a countywide health issue. Jodi Rohe, Morrison County Health Promotion Specialist and a member of HOPE in Morrison County, a coalition of community resources targeting efforts to reduce youth access to tobacco and alcohol, said she s not surprised by the county s high rate of smoking. I think smoking cigarettes continues to be more socially acceptable than chewing tobacco, for example, she said.