Lake Mills residents and officials are working to create a social host law and an altered consumption law to prevent underage drinking throughout Winnebago County.

The Lake Mills Task Force Against Substance Abuse is spearheading the movement to pass a county ordinance to target the locations of where underage drinking occurs.

“We know it’s illegal to consume, we know it’s illegal to possess. We also know it’s illegal to provide the substance to the youth, but we don’t have anything that focuses on where the underage drinking is taking place,” said Shanna Eastvold, director of the task force.

The task force held a meeting Aug. 27 to bring county officials, law enforcement officials and community members together to learn about the issue.

According to Eastvold, there are only two consumption ordinances in Winnebago County in Forest City and Lake Mills. The task force is working to make this consumption ordinance countywide.

The ordinance sets penalties for drinking-age parents who host parties or events where alcohol is served to underage people. It affects friends who provide, too.

“Are we going to correct underage drinking with this ordinance? Absolutely not, but at least it gives us grounds as to which direction we’re heading to help eliminate underage drinking,” Eastvold said.

Albert Lea has a similar host ordinance. The Albert Lea ordinance states that even though supplying alcohol to underage people was a crime, it was difficult to prove. The ordinance uses words to define what it means to be a host: aid, conduct, allow, entertain, organize, supervise, control and allow.

Underage consumption is also difficult to prove. In much of Winnebago County, minors can only be charged for possession, and not consumption, Eastvold said. Unless a minor has an open bottle, he or she can’t be charged, she said.

The law wouldn’t only impose criminal action, it could change the community’s perception of underage drinking, Eastvold said.

“We know the belief is here in our county that if parents allow underage drinking on their property, that it’s safer for our kids to do that,” Eastvold said.

She also said people over the age of 21 often don’t see the harm in providing the alcohol to younger friends.

The task force will write a draft of the ordinance at their next meeting Sept. 24. They’ll then take the draft to county supervisors. 

Eastvold said they’d like to see it go into effect in the next few months, but the pace is slowed because the task force meets once a month.

This movement may not be contained to Winnebago County, as Eastvold said she hopes the motion spreads to neighboring cities and all across Iowa.

“We’d like to see the grass roots support. And once the communities around us start seeing what we’ve done, they’ll feel the pressure to do the same. And eventually we’d like to see it as a state law,” Eastvold said.