Governor won’t lead town hall on teen drinking

Vancouver — Gov. Christine Gregoire will not lead one of two Vancouver town hall meetings in May on underage drinking.

A list by the state Department of Social & Health Services of the underage drinking town hall meetings around the state indicated Gregoire would be participating in a town hall set for 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. May 23 at Mountain View High School.

A spokesperson from the Governor’s Office said Gregoire has not planned to attend to the event. Karina Shagren of the Governor’s Office said she’s unsure how the error occurred but was trying to correct it on the DSHS list of event.

High school students, rather than Gregoire, will lead the town hall at Mountain View, 1500 S.E. Blairmont Drive. Students also will lead a separate meeting from 5:30. to 7 p.m. May 22 at Discovery Middle School, 800 E. 40th St.

Vancouver is among 73 communities statewide that are using town hall meetings to raise awareness and mobilize efforts to prevent underage drinking, according to the state Department of Social and Health Services.

In 2010, 14 percent of eighth-graders, 28 percent of 10th-graders and 40 percent of high school seniors reported using alcohol in the past 30 days, according to the Washington Healthy Youth Survey.