Res 1993-207 - Laserfiche WebLink

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b~K- together to serve the youth of this city. If funded this proposal will allow us to take advantage of these changes in attitudes and engage other service groups in the city who also have an interest or stake in our youth. The nature and scope of the problems associated with youth in San Marcos are similar to those found in cities across the nation. Addendum # 1 depicts the number of referrals for juveniles to the Hays County juvenile Probation Department for the last five years. It should be noted that while the number of referrals continues to rise, the number of detentions remains relatively flat. This is because Hays County has no juvenile detention facilitv. We must rely on bordering counties for this service, which results in increased costs for such detainment as indicated on the graph. As a practical matter, rather than detain many of those who should be detained. many are simply ~ released to their parents. and no service provider is engaged to offer any kind of counseling or intervention. Because there is no conseQuence to their behaviors. many of San Marcos' youth continue their behaviors unabated. Addendum # 1 also contains a breakdown of misdemeanor and felony cases for 1991 and 1992 with a footnote on the first 6 months of 1993. , Clearly. alcohol consumption is a significant contributing factor to youthful misconduct. School survey data indicates that heavy drinking among seniors was almost twice the national average in 1991. When 58% of the seniors were surveyed, they reported having 5 or more drinks in a row on two or more occasions in the previous two weeks. This had improved in 1992, but at 41 % continued to be unacceptably high and well above the national rate. Unfortunately as Addendum #5 indicates. 1993 seniors surveyed showed a jump to 45% for those who had 5 or more drinks in-a-row. 11 % of the San Marcos 8