College seminar aims to stop underage drinking

FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va.–In addition to laptops and dorm supplies, rising college students should know the dangers of underage drinking, Fairfax officials say.

The county’s police department will hold a free seminar on the rising risk of binge drinking on college campuses on Wednesday July 28, at Northern Virginia Community College’s Annandale Campus.

The event will include a screening of the movie “HAZE,” a documentary chronicling the underage drinking problem on college campuses in the U.S.

Afterwards, a panel to include Jeff Levy, whose son died after drinking at a college party, will take questions from parents and students, according to event organizers.

The seminar comes after three people at George Mason University last month were charged with underage possession of alcohol.

On June 5, Marbim Antonio Funes Chaves, 20, of Annandale, was charged with underage possession of alcohol by the university’s police department. He is not a GMU student.

Two GMU students on June 13, Tyler Armor, 18, of Fairfax and Casey Frederick, 18, of McLean, were also charged with underage possession of alcohol, according to university police.

But underage drinking problems can develop well before young adults enter college.

According to a study among high school students by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2007, at least 30 percent of those surveyed drank alcohol in the past 30 days, 26 percent binge drank, 11 percent drove after drinking and 29 percent rode in a vehicle with someone who had been drinking.

The seminar will be held at 7 p.m. in the Ernst Cultural Center, at 8333 Little River Turnpike. Visitors are asked to park in the campus’ parking garage. Coupons for free parking will be distributed, according to event organizers.

You can call 703-246-3271 for more information.