Front row: Piscataquis Public Health Council's Community Partnership Specialist Shannon Bishop, Officer David Henderson of Milo PD, Officer Jeff Pomerleau of Greenville PD, Sgt. Mike Gould of Piscataquis County Sheriff's Office, Robin Mayo, Community Partnership Director for Piscataquis Public Health Council. Back row: Officer James Emerson of Dexter PD, Dover-Foxcroft Police Chief Dennis Dyer, Officer Guy Dow of Piscataquis County Sheriff's Office, Officer David Wilson of Piscataquis Sheriff's Office, Sgt. Terry Smith of Milo PD, Brownville Police Chief Nick Clukey, Greenville Police Chief Scott McMaster, and Lt. Bob Young of Piscataquis County Sheriff's Dept.

Lt. Bob Young of the Piscataquis County Sheriff’s Office details successes and challenges with past underage drinking initiatives to officers from Greenville, Brownville, Milo, Dover-Foxcroft, Dexter and other members of the sheriff’s department.

“Underage drinking and high risk drinking are community problems” said Guy Cousins, OSA Executive Director. “By funding these partnerships across Maine, we help communities actively be part of the solution”.

“This funding provides us with a great opportunity to collaborate and support local law enforcement, and allows us to support local retailers with employee beverage/seller server trainings” said Robin Mayo, Community Partnership Director, Piscataquis Public Health Council. “We have been working at addressing underage and high risk drinking within our communities and this will really enhance our efforts.”

Funded through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration's Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, OSA has awarded Piscataquis Public Health Council an eighteen month supplemental grant of $56,159 that will focus on reducing alcohol through collaborations, policies, enforcement, and education.

The Piscataquis Public Health Council will partner with police departments in Dover-Foxcroft, Milo, Brownville, Greenville, and Dexter, as well as the Piscataquis County Sheriff's Department. The police departments will work collaboratively to enforce the State's Model Underage Drinking Enforcement Policy that each department has adopted locally. Active party patrols will be conducted through scheduled patrols that look for underage drinking in known party locations or in response to reliable information that a party will occur at a specific time or place. Passive Party Patrols will occur when law enforcement responds to a community report of an underage drinking party currently in progress. They will work to enhance and improve call-out teams for handling underage drinking parties.

The Piscataquis Public Health Council also has agreements with School Union 60 in Greenville and MSAD #12 in Jackman to work on School Substance Abuse policy development.

The Piscataquis Public Health Council will also be contracting with Frank Lyons, of BC Consultants, a twenty-three year veteran of Liquor Licensing Enforcement who will be providing Beverage Seller/Server Trainings to local area retailers and is a certified instructor with the Maine Criminal Academy. The training will help retailers prevent costly violations and civil suits, instill more confidence in alcohol servers and potentially reduce Liquor Liability Insurance premiums (dependant upon insurance carrier approval).

Piscataquis Public Health Council, a local Healthy Maine Partnership, is located at 897 West Main Street in Dover-Foxcroft on the Mayo Regional Hospital campus in the Old Mayo Building. For more information on this new program or how to get involved, call 564-4184 or e-mail Community Partnership Specialist Shannon Bishop at sbishop@mayohospital.com.

For more information on this grant, visit the OSA website at www.maineosa.org.