Community surveys released in recent months have officials in Tahoe/Truckee alarmed. Statistics point to community-wide alcohol abuse among adults and youth, and increasing DUI rates. Local officials charged with the health and safety of the population believe residents need to change their perspectives on drinking. The first step, they say, is admitting there is a problem.
“Our community continues to be challenged by high alcohol use rates that manifest into high arrest rates for DUI and other alcohol related crimes,” Truckee Police Chief Adam McGill wrote in the department’s 2014 annual report, released March 10. “Unfortunately, we saw these numbers climb to the highest ever recorded by the department.”
Adults in Truckee/North Tahoe reported using alcohol, over 30 days, at a rate 46 percent higher than the rest of the state, according to the Tahoe Forest Hospital 2014 Household Survey Assessment released in February. Those same adults also reported binge drinking, which is considered five drinks in one to two hours for men and four drinks for women, at a rate 73 percent higher than other California adults.
The numbers for youth are equally alarming, according to the 2014 California Healthy Kids Survey released in January. Students in ninth grade in the Truckee Tahoe Unified School District reported using alcohol 65 percent more than other California ninth graders in a 30-day period. The same study saw that TTUSD eleventh graders’ reported alcohol use was 42 percent higher than other eleventh graders in the state. When it comes to binge drinking, ninth graders reported 73 percent higher and eleventh graders 45 percent higher than their peers statewide.
“We are definitely a lot higher than the rest of the state on alcohol use,” said River Coyote, director of Tahoe-Truckee Future Without Drug Dependence (FWDD), a community-wide coalition to prevent youth substance abuse. “We need to convince people that they need to do things differently.”
The Tahoe Forest Hospital report also showed there were 80 emergency room visits related to alcohol last year, and McGill states there are more than 200 alcohol intoxication admissions at the hospital each year. Last year was also a record year with 160 DUIs topping Truckee’s past counts, according to McGill. With 23 alcohol-related traffic accidents and 85 arrests for being drunk in public in Truckee, 46 percent of all Truckee arrests in 2014 were alcohol related. There have been no alcohol-related fatalities in Truckee in the last five years, according to McGill.
“We drink more than the rest of the country,” McGill told Moonshine Ink in a recent interview. “That to me says it all.”
The Placer County Sheriff’s Office did not have figures for the North Shore, but Captain Dennis Walsh, station commander for the Tahoe Division, said that DUIs and public intoxication are “high” and bring in the most arrests for the area.
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Culture as Culprit
Everyone interviewed for this article pointed to Tahoe/Truckee’s culture as a big reason for the high rates of alcohol use when compared to other parts of the state. Our “work hard, play hard” mentality applies to drinking as well. Coyote pointed out that nearly every community event — including those directed at families and children — has or promotes alcohol at their event. Some local bars offer “Beat the Clock” specials, which she says encourages binge drinking. McGill noted it is common to see adults with alcoholic beverages at the Fourth of July and Halloween parades, as well as at youth activities and games. The service industry, which many locals work in, also breeds high rates of alcohol use with cheap shift drink prices. And the vibe of our tourist-based economy, with visitors coming to Tahoe’s ski slopes and beaches to relax and party, trickles down to the locals.
“Our culture norms are out of whack,” said Phebe Bell, Health and Human Services program manager for Placer and Nevada counties. “We are so out of whack with what people are doing in the rest of the country. It is definitely alarming when you look at the whole picture.”
A 2001 study, The Impacts of Tourism, by Glenn Kreak of the University of Minnesota provided research-based information on how tourism impacts local communities. Kreak suggested that the top negative social and cultural impacts of tourism on a community are excessive drinking, alcoholism, gambling, and underage drinking.
“Tourism can come to a community with a dark social and cultural side,” the study states. “Illegal activities tend to increase in the realized atmosphere of tourist areas. Increased underage drinking can become a problem especially in beach communities, areas with festivals involving alcohol, and ski villages.”
Paul Nolfo, who owns Sacramento-based Nolfo Consulting Inc., works with state, county, and local coalitions and nonprofits on community wellness issues state-wide. He is the evaluator for FWDD, analyzing how the coalition functions and how well it’s mobilizing the community, and he sees many similarities between Tahoe/Truckee and other tourist areas. While different solutions work for different communities, he said “changing the culture of the community” is paramount.
“With those drinking rates, there’s problems,” Nolfo said. “[The community has] to find that sweet spot between the tourist industry and making sure kids are safe. That is the challenge.”
Coyote also points to “social norms and easy social access” as the biggest issues related to alcohol use and acceptance. With 86 alcohol licenses in Truckee, McGill said that the area is “over concentrated.” An alcohol density report has not been conducted in Tahoe/Truckee, but Nolfo said this needs to happen, as he often looks at those numbers to gauge a town’s relationship with alcohol.
McGill even admits that Truckee Police don’t enforce the no open container law because they don’t want to “shock the system.” He understands that drinking has been entwined with the culture for a long time, and it will take a while to change local perceptions. Coyote mentioned studies that show significant impact on cultural change taking between five and 10 years. She said that first, awareness in the community has to be developed, then policy change and role modeling can happen.
“Living in a resort tourist community, we take on the lifestyle,” said McGill, who came to Truckee in 2012 from Modesto. “This is not the real world. We are isolated geographically. Crime is non-existent here. That is not normal. We get so comfortable here, you don’t realize there is a problem.”
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The DUI Issue
Some people believe that police have too much time on their hands and target drunk drivers, while law enforcement contend they are just looking out for the community’s safety. Either way, local DUIs do stack up substantially.
Nevada County Superior Court Judge Robert Tamietti said that nearly 40 percent of his caseload is DUI-related. Last year, out of 600 misdemeanors, 240 were DUIs, and he arraigned 55 DUIs in the last 12 weeks.
“If that keeps up, we will break last year’s record,” Tamietti said.
Criminal defense attorney Alison Bermant, who represents clients in Placer, Nevada, El Dorado, and Sierra counties, said half to two-thirds of her cases are DUIs. But she thinks a heavy police presence has a lot to do with those numbers.
“I don’t think we have some extraordinary DUI problem in comparison to other ski areas or the state of California,” Bermant said. “I have seen them circling commercial row. They heavily patrol downtown Truckee.”
McGill said he hears that accusation a lot, but that police patrols have decreased in the last few years as DUIs have increased. In 2012, when he became Truckee’s police chief, there were five to six police patrolling the streets nightly, while now there are two to three. In 2012, Truckee had 106 DUIs, and 160 in 2014. McGill also noted that 69 percent of DUI arrestees list Truckee as their primary residence, deflating the argument that mostly tourists are pulled over.
Truckee Officer Sara Rodriguez, who will become the alcohol detention officer in April (a new position), said she and other officers sit at the train depot across from commercial row in downtown Truckee to act as a “visual deterrent.” She said the police do not follow people from the bars or target individuals. She explained that walking through the bars and driving through downtown helps quell the nightly number of drunk drivers.
“There is an increased attention to alcohol because it is a public health concern. We have been lucky to have no major fatalities,” Rodriguez said. “Alcohol seems to be something that this community seems to struggle with.”
Tamietti said the high blood alcohol levels he sees on the DUI cases are especially concerning. The legal limit is .08, but he notices that some people with DUIs had blood alcohol levels up to .31. What has alarmed him most is the large number of second DUI offenders with high blood alcohol levels.
Looking Towards the Future
Though the numbers are staggering, the community is making changes to decrease alcohol use. Spurred by Tamietti, Truckee will get a DUI court this summer, designed to get help for repeat offenders rather than sending them to jail. It is run on a behavior modification therapy model.
“The objective is not to incarcerate these people, but to change their behavior,” said Tamietti, who ran a drug court in Nevada City. “It is a public safety thing. If we can keep them from drinking and driving, it will be safe for everyone.”
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Bermant said she would support a DUI court, with parameters.
“I think that it is a good idea so long as there are very clear definitions as to what is required and what the punishments will be if there is a relapse,” she said.
In addition to the DUI court and new alcohol detention officer, Truckee is considering a social host ordinance, which would hold parents accountable for underage drinking in their homes. Coyote said 56 cities and seven counties in California currently have similar ordinances, as they can help communities reduce teen drinking parties.
Tahoe Truckee Unified School District offers a myriad of alcohol education and prevention programs, and it will roll out even more in the coming months, including the athlete committed program, which will ask student athletes to sign a contract that they will not drink. FWDD will also release a short video in the coming weeks directed at kids.
Leaders and officials say the solution for the youth alcohol problem begins with adults. And while the school district, hospital, police, and community organizations make strides to change alcohol use in town, they say they need the community’s help.
“The police cannot solve this. We cannot arrest our way out of this problem,” McGill said. “It’s going to take a long time. It’s going to be incremental.”
