Police chief: ‘Unfortunately, alcohol and drug abuse, both of these, have created tragedy in our community’
For Park City Police Chief Wade Carpenter, the reality is frightening.
Park City, he said, has a serious problem: On the whole, parents here are too permissive when it comes to their children experimenting with alcohol. They don’t seem to understand that, with each sip, the bright futures their children hold are at risk of slipping away.
“We all want to see our kids grow to accomplish the things that they want to,” he said. “We want them to be happy and successful, and we don’t want alcohol to rob them of those opportunities. Unfortunately, alcohol and drug abuse, both of these, have created tragedy in our community.”
Carpenter’s remarks came Wednesday at a press conference put on by the Parents Empowered campaign announcing the next steps in its ongoing effort to curb underage drinking throughout Utah. The event, hosted in Park City by U.S. Ski & Snowboard — whose athletes will be highlighted in a statewide anti-youth drinking publicity push — featured a number of prominent officials who spoke about the severity of the problem and the importance of communities statewide rallying to overcome it.
In addition to Carpenter, officials such as Utah Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox, Park City Mayor Jack Thomas and Luke Bodensteiner, athletic director of U.S. Ski & Snowboard, stepped to the podium to share stories of how underage drinking has affected them.
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