Town Hall meeting on underage drinking set for tonight

The Vernon County Youth Task Force is hosting a Town Hall meeting for the prevention of underage drinking, at 6:30 tonight, in the auditorium at Nevada High School. The event is free and open to the public, and will be moderated by Carol Branham.

Speakers will include Nevada R-5 Superintendent Dr. David Stephens, Jim Wilde of the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Dr. Dan Barnes, Nevada Regional Medical Center emergency department medical director; and Lori Morgan, who will present information on a national campaign titled, "Those Who Host, Lose the Most."

The purpose of the meeting is to increase awareness of the issue of underage drinking, identify how underage drinking affects the community and brainstorm possible solutions.

The task force also is continuing its effort to focus on character education and reinforcement of a community-wide effort to reinforce education and graduation from high school through a campaign that focuses on words representing values. The task force has introduced April's word of the month -- perseverance.