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(Names of teens have been changed.)

It's a chilly Saturday night and about 20 high-school students are finding warmth in a gallon of vodka. Already well on his way to inebriation, 16-year-old junior Josh challenges Amy, a 14-year-old freshman, to a shot-drinking contest. Weighing some 50 pounds less than Josh, it only takes Amy three shots before she surrenders, throwing herself onto a couch. Her head is spinning and black blotches dance in front of her eyes.

"I don't feel so good," she says to no one in particular before running to the kitchen to throw up in the garbage can. One of Amy's friends goes to help hold her hair back, but the rest of the party erupts in laughter. "Freshmen, they just don't hold their liquor," says Sam, a 17-year-old senior.

The party, called a "kick-back" because there are a limited number of invited guests, as opposed to an open-door policy, contains mainly upper classmen. It is obvious that the older youths are much more accustomed to drinking. Amy shyly admits, "I've never drank vodka straight before. I always mix it with juice or soda or something. It burns."

The party scene described above is real and was witnessed by the I-T. According to all reports, it was not in the least unusual. Teen drinking is not a new problem, but it seems to be growing more rampant in the Valley. According to the California Healthy Kids Survey for 2006, teenagers in Sonoma Valley consume alcohol at a significantly higher rate than state or national averages.

"Sonoma Valley has the highest rate of teen drinking of all of Sonoma County," said Danielle Ronshausen, coordinator for the Sonoma Valley Coalition to Prevent Underage Drinking. "It also has the highest rate of binge drinking in the county." (Binge drinking is defined as consuming five or more drinks inside of two hours).

According to the Healthy Kids Survey, 77 percent of high school juniors in Sonoma said they have tried alcohol, and 53 percent admitted to drinking in the 30 days prior to filling out the survey.

"We all do it. At least everybody I know," Josh said. "It doesn't feel like the weekend without a party."

These teens said tracking down alcohol or marijuana in Sonoma is no problem. Some teens have an older sibling willing to purchase alcohol. Some teens will steal alcohol from grocery stores. Some teens use "shoulder-tapping," where they offer a stranger money to purchase the booze. "There's also specific stores where the teen has established a relationship with the merchants," Ronshausen said. "It's very easy for teens to get their hands on alcohol - and they know it."

Ronshausen's organization, Sonoma Valley Coalition to Prevent Underage Drinking, formed last year to tackle the issue close to home. The group is one of eight coalitions in the county funded by the Prevention and Planning Division of the Sonoma County Department of Health Services. The group has spent the year conducting multiple focus groups to better understand teen's drinking habits, where the alcohol comes from and what risky behaviors teens engage in while under the influence.

"Overwhelmingly, access all points back towards retail settings," Ronshausen said, explaining that a majority of youth are getting their booze right from the store.

Larger grocery chains such as Safeway and Lucky's have a corporate-wide policy stating that employees are not allowed to chase youths who steal alcohol out of the store. Teens simply walk in, grab as much alcohol as they can, and bolt for the door. The store can only call the police, who rarely make it to the store in time to find the offender.

Plaza Liquors recently lost its license to sell alcohol after failing a sting operation conducted by the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, but proprietor Joey Gregory said the small market never saw teens coming in to steal alcohol or attempt to purchase it with a fake I.D.

"We card everyone for tobacco and alcohol and aside from the ABC sting, we never had a problem," she said.

Ronshausen said small markets are harder targets for teens looking to score booze. "It's a lot more difficult to steal from the smaller markets," she said. "Those merchants typically know what's going on in their stores."

But some Valley establishments do sell alcohol to underage drinkers. The Sonoma Police Department recently ran a decoy operation to catch businesses that fail to check for proper identification before serving liquor.

"Of the nine establishments we visited, we found violations in three places," said Sonoma Police Chief Bret Sackett.

Teens are clearly not having any trouble finding alcohol. Almost all of the teens the Index-Tribune interviewed said they drink at least one night every weekend. A very small minority of these teens said their parents knew about their drinking habits.

"My parents know what I'm up to, and they just tell me to be safe about it," said Jane, a 17-year-old senior, who added she abides by her curfews and always tells her parents where she's going. "I want to keep that trust with my parents."

Jane said she once attended a party where the host's mother served the group chicken wings while the teens played a game of beer pong. It is a misdemeanor for adults to furnish minors with any alcohol, even their own children. Punishments can include up to $100 in fines for each minor found drinking. Additionally, the adult can be held responsible if the minor was to injure themselves or others while intoxicated. But many parents said they don't have a clear idea of what their children at up to.

"I have no idea what my kids are doing. They'll lie to me about it anyway," said one parent, who asked not to be named.

Matt Regan, who serves as Sonoma Valley High School's campus resource officer, said alcohol has a minimal presence on campus. However, the Healthy Kids Survey reported that 35 percent of juniors had been under the influence of drugs or alcohol at school.

When a student is found under the influence on campus, or at a school function such as prom, Regan is typically called in to perform a breathalyzer test, which he said doesn't typically break the .02 blood alcohol mark. But the students are wary to give up the source of their alcohol.

"Kids are really tight lipped. Generally, they won't tell us anything that leads anywhere. They just like to have the illusion of cooperation," Regan said, adding that the number of cases of kids under the influence of alcohol fluctuates. "Last year, the huge problem was marijuana, we had a number of cases of kids on campus with it. Last year I didn't have any cases involving alcohol, and this year I think I've had five."

SVHS Principal Micaela Philpot said alcohol abuse is not a significant problem on campus, but the school does offer a range of educational programs on alcohol. Both the Living Skills and Driver Education classes offered at the high school have a segment focused on drug and alcohol education. The school also sponsors events like "Alive at 25" and "Every 15 Minutes," where the real life effects of alcohol abuse are dramatized and discussed.

"In addition to (those) programs, we have provided a shuttle to homecoming the last two years to ensure safer transport in general, not specifically for drinking and driving," Philpot said. "As part of our jobs, we search backpacks and follow up with students if they appear under the influence."

Among the teens the Index-Tribune talked to for this article, everyone admitted that driving drunk is dangerous. But that doesn't stop them from doing it.

"I'm not going to say it (drinking and driving) doesn't happen, because it does. There haven't been any accidents so they're doing a good job of driving (drunk), not that they should," Jane said.

The Healthy Kids Survey showed that 30 percent of juniors have driven under the influence, or driven with someone who was drunk or high. But some of the teens interviewed said they always make sure to have a plan, whether it be a designated driver or spending the night at the house where they party. Ronshausen said the teens she interviewed for her focus group reported a variety of risky behaviors while drinking.

"We find a lot are engaging in risky behavior like drinking and driving, unprotected sex and unplanned sex," she said, adding that there was one report of a girl who drank too much and was sexually battered by a fellow partygoer.

While the incidence of teen drinking may be on the rise nationally, the Sonoma Valley Coalition to Prevent Underage Drinking said parents and merchants must be vigilant in keeping alcohol out of teens hands. "If people are complacent, the kids start to think its OK," Ronshausen said.

As for the teenagers, they say they're just following in a long line of underage drinkers. "Come on, are you telling me that none of the people reading this article ever drank before they were 21?" Josh asked.

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