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Social Host Ordinance Initiative
The CHI has been working to educate the Goodhue County communities on the importance of this ordinance and then presenting it to the individual jurisdictions. It is our hope to have this ordinance implemented throughout all Goodhue County communities so we are proceeding with discussions with local city officials and key individuals within each of the communities to stress the benefits of the ordinance. To date, this ordinance is in place in the following Goodhue County jurisdictions

Red Wing, Kenyon, rural and outlying areas of Goodhue County, Cannon Falls, city of Goodhue, Zumbrota and Bellechester

The Social Host ordinance recognizes that:

• Persons under the age of 21 primarily obtain alcoholic beverages through social sources such as parties. The parties are held in homes, garages, apartments, hotel and motel rooms, outdoors in vacant lots and on agricultural or rural lands—on all types of private property. Parties are a common location for binge drinking by teenagers and college students.
• Consumption of alcoholic beverages at parties on private property exposes persons under 21 who attend the parties and the neighboring community to increased alcohol abuse by underage persons, accidental injury, driving under the influence of alcohol, injuries and death from motor vehicle crashes, violent crimes including physical fights and sexual assault, public drunkenness, vandalism, excessive traffic and noise, and obstruction of public streets, all of which may require intervention by local law enforcement.
• All persons have a responsibility to prevent the number and frequency of parties at which underage possession and underage consumption occur. Parents, landlords, tenants, hotel/motel operators, campground owners, social hosts, and young persons themselves share a responsibility to ensure that persons under 21 are not allowed to use private residences or other private property—apartments, condos, hotel rooms, campsites, etc.—to possess or consume alcoholic beverages.
• The social hosting of an underage drinking party poses an immediate threat to the public health, safety, and welfare and should be treated as a civil violation, a criminal violation, or a combination of both. The penalty should be sufficiently swift, certain, and severe to have a deterrent effect on underage drinking.
• Law enforcement responses to disturbances involving underage consumption of alcoholic beverages at parties at or on a private residence or other private property frequently require the extensive use of enforcement personnel, reducing resources from, and increasing the crime risk in, other parts of a community. The ordinance allows communities to impose law enforcement costs incurred in responding to out-of-control parties on the persons most able to prevent them from occurring in the first place.

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S.A.F.E. (Safe Alternative for Everyone) Project
The Chemical Health Initiatve partnered with local Law Enforcement, Goodhue County Public Health and other key contacts to bring the citizens of Goodhue County a prescription drug disposal program.  Prescription and over-the-counter medications are creating both a public health and an environmental issue.  Mis-use/abuse of medications is an alarming and growing trend.  Too many teens and young adults are using medications not prescribed for them; pain killers such as OxyContin and Vicodin, anti-anxiety medications and stimulants.  The S.A.F.E. program is a way to get rid of any unneeded medications in family medicine cabinets or elsewhere in the home.  Improper disposal of medications is also creating environmental issues by tainting groundwater, rivers and streams.  Fish and other wildlife are showing signs of undesired changes due to exposure to medications.

The goal of this project was and is to provide the citizens of Goodhue County a secure location where they can properly dispose of outdated or unneeded medications - prescription drugs, over-the-counter medications and animal medications.

There are two drop off locations available, one in Red Wing located in the front entrance of the Goodhue County Law Enforcement Center and the other in Wanamingo at the Goodhue County Sheriff's Office.    Below are the addresses of the drop off locations:

Goodhue County Law Enforcement Center—Lobby:  Red Wing Site 430 West 6th Street, Red Wing, MN 55066 Available 24 Hrs.

Goodhue County Sheriff’s Office: Wanamingo Site                      401 Main Street, Wanamingo, MN 55983 Available Monday-Friday 8am—4:30pm

 

Coming soon to the communities of Cannon Falls and Zumbrota in March 2012!

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Sticker Shock Campaign
The Red Wing and Cannon Falls CHI Councils along with the CHI staff recently implemented the Sticker Shock Campaign throughout their respective communities.  In late October and early November 2010, the Red Wing and Cannon Falls councils partnered with local student groups and off-sale liquor establishments on the Sticker Shock campaign.  The campaign was implemented in the Kenyon-Wanamingo and Zumbrota communities in May 2010 and was a great success.  Please visit their local council pages for more information and to view pictures of the event.

Reference Documents:
Sticker Shock Campaign Poster                    Sticker Shock Campaign Guide                    Sample Sticker

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Additional CHI Information on Strategies

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For the 2010 Drug Free Grant Application, the Chemical Health Initiative of Goodhue County evaluated the top chemical concerns throughout our county and developed logic models to address each of the concerns.  Below are links to these logic models that will provide the detail behind our strategy and approach for addressing these key concerns.

Alcohol Use Logic Model
Marijuana Use Logic Model
Prescription Drug & OTC Medication Misuse Logic Model