TEEN DRINKING RAMPANT SANTA CLARITA EXCEEDS NATIONAL AVERAGE.

Byline: Holly Edwards Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - Santa Clarita teens are outpacing teens nationwide in the consumption of alcohol, a trend spawned by a widespread acceptance of underage drinking in the city and a greater ease of purchasing alcohol from local convenience stores, bars and restaurants, authorities said.

Four out of five high school students said they have used alcohol, which is slightly higher than the national average, said Steve LePore, director of the Santa Clarita Youth Project, which studied underage drinking.

``There's no question there's a problem of underage drinking in this valley,'' he said. ``But generally speaking, we turn a blind eye to it. The attitude among a lot of parents is, well, at least he's not using drugs. And the sad truth is that by turning a blind eye to it, we're condoning it.''

Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies said the number of underage drunk drivers they've seen is also hair-raising.

``We're just very fortunate nobody's been seriously hurt, because you're talking about underage drinkers over twice the legal limit,'' said Lt. Carl Deeley of the Santa Clarita Valley station. ``You can imagine the danger for the rest of us on the road.''

While statics on underage drinking and driving in the city aren't alarming - of the 688 people arrested for drunk driving last year, 49 were underage - Deeley said as many as five times that number are actually on the road.

Deeley said he recently saw an underage drunk driver pull out of a local bar, run over a sign and head for the parking lot at Valencia Town Center Mall.

Following the trail of oil, Deeley caught up to the driver as he and his girlfriend were being detained by mall security. Both were arrested for drunk driving, he said.

Local law enforcement officials said they break up teen parties almost every night and see teens purchasing or drinking alcohol illegally on a regular basis.

``When I'm off duty, I see it happening and I hear about it happening all the time,'' said Sgt. Bruce Sonnenblick, who oversees community relations and crime prevention at the Santa Clarita Valley sheriff's station. ``And we get calls from parents all the time who say they see kids drinking in bars or walking out of a liquor store with alcohol.''

To make it more difficult for teens to buy alcohol, Sonnenblick has been working with state Alcoholic Beverage Control officials and underage decoys in conducting sting operations in local bars, restaurants, convenience stores, drug stores and grocery stores.

Of the 250 locations surveyed in the past four years, 75 businesses illegally sold alcohol to an underage decoy, he said.

Statewide, an average of about 20 percent of locations surveyed sold alcohol to minors, according to ABC statistics.

While the city has performed slightly worse than the state average, Sonnenblick said it is becoming more difficult each year for the underage decoys to purchase alcohol.

This year, a new program called Operation Shoulder Tap will be launched to target adults who purchase alcohol for teens, he said.

Two decoys will approach adults as they walk into liquor and convenience stores, asking them to buy alcohol, Sonnenblick said. Anyone who agrees will be arrested.

``One night I was sitting in an unmarked car and two 14-year-old girls walked over and said, here's some money. Will you buy us some beer?'' he recalled. ``I told them I didn't think it was very safe for them to be asking strangers that question.''

After the girls left, Sonnenblick said he radioed a patrol car and told them about the teens' proposition.

``They drove over to the girls with their lights on and scared them a little,'' he said. ``One of the girls' parents was extremely upset, and the other just said, yeah, I'll deal with it.''

Daily News Staff Writer Patricia Farrell Aidem contributed to this story.