In Jon Barta’s view, drunk kids at Lawrence high school dances don’t always spark as much parental outrage as they should.

“Sometimes the reaction of the parents is, ‘It’s not a big deal'” when their children are caught, said Barta, a Lawrence police officer assigned to Lawrence High School. “They’re not really shocked or upset.”

Barta was one of a group of panelists who talked about underage drinking Tuesday during a “town hall” discussion that drew about 60 people to the county’s health building, 200 Maine.

Similar events are taking place this month in 1,200 communities nationwide – all part of a $1.2 million government effort to get parents to start talking with their kids sooner about alcohol. One goal of the program, according to a video shown Tuesday, is to change local communities’ stances on underage drinking from “acceptance to abstinence,” based in part on research showing that young people may not be physically capable of making good decisions until age 24.

But in a town where keg parties are commonplace – and where many adults recall being able to drink beer as 18-year-old college freshmen – the attitudes about alcohol are complicated.

“I remain concerned that we’ve moved drinking from bars to house parties, and I think some of that is a result of the limits on the availability of cereal malt beverage to people who are 18,” State Sen. Marci Francisco said afterward. “It’s easier to control drinking in a bar than it is in a house party. You have somebody whose job it is to figure out how old you are. That does not happen at a house party.”

During a community forum on underage drinking at the Community Health Facility, 200 Maine, Free State High School junior Paul Wade responds to a question about the availability of alcohol in the community for youths. Also on the panel at Tuesday's forum, from left, are Jaytoya Sims, senior at Lawrence High School; Jerry Little, city prosecutor; John Drees, nurse at Lawrence Memorial Hospital; Wade; John Barta, school resource officer at LHS; and Tammy Hughes, training officer and program coordinator at Douglas County Youth Services.

Panelist Paul Wade, a Free State High School junior, said he viewed Kansas University students as the primary source of alcohol for underage drinkers in Lawrence. Often they are older siblings or have house parties, he said.

Wade also said alcohol is tied in with popularity for Lawrence high schoolers more than some people might think.

“If you’re kind of a shy kid, alcohol provides you the opportunity to go out there and do things that you normally wouldn’t,” he said.

Taylor Renfro, a 16-year-old Lawrence High School student, said she attended the discussion because her mother wanted her to go. She said she thought alcohol use among teens was a serious problem, but that parents would be well-served to find better ways of discussing it.

“Parents do need to come up with a way of not sounding hypocritical,” she said. “You hear stories about your parents in high school, how they were big partiers.”

Elizabeth Scheib, parent of a junior high and high school student, said one reason she attended was to be better prepared to talk with her kids rationally about alcohol, instead of sounding like a broken record saying “don’t do it, don’t do it.”

Tuesday’s event was hosted by the Douglas County Community Health Improvement Project and paid for with a $1,000 federal grant. More information about the government’s campaign, including tips about talking with children about alcohol, is online at www.stopalcoholabuse.gov.