The party was going to take place in the Foothills State Forest.

Our officers are always alert when word of a party gets out, but this party really got their attention as it was scheduled to occur at the same location one of our youth was murdered after a drinking party just last summer.

While working a ZAP shift Deputy Gary Sampson, along with two other officers, responded to the area and what do you think they found?

Do you have a picture in your mind of a group of graduating seniors celebrating by sitting around a keg - slurping out of those famous plastic glasses? You hear it all the time, "That's what we did when we were kids, can you expect any different from today's kids?"

But these kids are different. This is the same generation who fought big tobacco with their TARGET ad campaign.

Many of today's kids have been through Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drug (ATOD) education at the school and understand the risks.

For example, that alcohol use could affect their developing brain which continues to develop until their twenties.

These are the Pine River-Backus students who, in a 2008 survey, responded that six out of ten of them would prefer not to drink alcohol when hanging out with friends.

Deputy Sampson did find a bunch of this year's graduating class partying, what he didn't find was any alcohol or any kids showing signs they had been consuming alcohol.

In his report Deputy Sampson writes, "They were very polite and cooperative. They offered officers pop, hotdogs and cookies; too bad the smores were all gone ... Hats off to those kids" said Sampson. "It was really nice to see all of them enjoying themselves while sober."

Wouldn't it be nice if someday we hear, "Graduating seniors had a party in the woods" and we don't assume alcohol was involved. Maybe this generation will be the one to make that happen.

ZAP: ZERO ADULT PROVIDERS

The Pine River-Backus ZAP Program is a partnership between the Pine River-Backus Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drug (ATOD) Program, the Pine River and Backus Police Departments and the Cass County SheriffÕs Office.

The PRB-ZAP Program is designed to increase patrols during key days and enable additional officers to respond to an alcohol party once it has been discovered.

A main focus of the ZAP Program is to discover who is responsible for providing the alcohol and to cite (and sometimes arrest) those responsible.

The overall goal of the PRB-ZAP Program is to decrease the amount of alcohol available to our youth as well as to change the idea that it is okay to provide alcohol to underage youth.