Student Says 'Too Many Teens are Drinking'

At Buffalo Grove’s VA Liquor, a poster displays the 25 fake IDs that employees have confiscated since the store opened four years ago.

“We call it our Wall of Shame,” store manager Alexandra Rubin said.

Employees are trained to card customers and a guidebook behind the register counter is ready for quick reference. 

But even the strictest policies can’t prevent over-21 customers from providing alcohol to underage drinkers. That’s where a team of local volunteers comes in.

Buffalo Grove-based Omni Youth Services teamed April 30 with Buffalo Grove police officers and Buffalo Grove High School’s Interact Club to launch an awareness campaign in 20 local businesses that sell alcohol.

The teams taped posters in store windows and hung tags over bottle necks to encourage customers not to provide alcohol to minors. “Your Actions Matter,” the materials, which are part of a national campaign, remind customers. 

“I think it’s a good way to help make the community safer,” said volunteer Michael LaRue, a senior at Buffalo Grove High School. “Too many teens are drinking when they shouldn’t be.” 

Junior Angelica Hayman agreed. She said she thinks teens are more likely to obtain alcohol from a friend who is over 21. “I think that more than parents,” she said.

Buffalo Grove Investigator Bobby Broussard said the program is timed to coincide with prom season and the summer months. 

“Summer is a particularly high-risk time of the year, but we don’t want people to forget that providing alcohol to minors, or allowing them to drink in any place under your control, is against the law all year round,” he said in a statement from Omni Youth Services.

Related: Read messages about drug and alcohol abuse from Omni Youth Services' Link Together coalition.