The last week of school for Wood River Valley high school students was a big one for teen drinking.
"It was just continuous the whole week," Hailey Police Chief Brian McNary said on Monday. "From Wednesday through Saturday, it seemed like every time we turned around we ran into more kids who were drinking."
McNary said police cited seven youths for underage drinking and one 21-year-old for procuring beer for them during a party at Balmoral apartments in Hailey on Saturday night. He said three youths were cited during three separate traffic stops on Wednesday night, and five youths were cited in two traffic stops Friday night.
However, McNary said he doesn't think the incidents represent a trend in more teen drinking. Given Hailey's population increase, he said, the percentage of teens drinking does not appear to have increased over the past few years.
However, he said, a change in state law that sets a limit of .02 blood-alcohol content for teen drivers—well under the .08 limit for adults—has resulted in far more DUI charges against teens.
"We're taking a much more strict stance," McNary said. "Once they passed that law, it changed the rule about breaking up parties. If we write a minor-consumption ticket and let them leave, then it's a DUI. So when we write tickets, we call parents or arrange for a sober ride home."
McNary said Blaine County has long had one of the lowest rates of accidents involving teen drinking in the state.
