With one of the highest rates of underage drinking in the state, Barron County is looking to the public for answers. The sheriff says a state grant is funding a new on-line survey.

Barron County Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald says the survey is designed to help the county and help law enforcement figure out if increased efforts are working and hear from as many people as possible about how to continue fighting alcohol-related crime.

Two years ago, 17-year-old Rhonda Hellstern from Turtle Lake was killed when the truck she was riding in crashed in Barron County. The sheriff says the 14-year-old driver had been drinking.

“I did that death notification to those parents and that was one thing I made a commitment to make sure we don't do any more death notifications,” Fitzgerald says.

Fitzgerald is the co-chair of the Safe and Stable Families Coalition in Barron County. The coalition teamed up with UW-Madison to put out the on-line survey.

“We want to know peoples' opinions on this, we want their experiences, we want their attitudes, and we want what they think on our efforts and what we can do better to make Barron County a safer place for everybody,” Fitzgerald says.

The sheriff says the county is in year two of a two year grant. The $280,000 has been spent mainly on fighting underage drinking, specifically more compliance checks at bars and liquor stores, extra "party patrols" and a campaign asking parents to "talk to your kids before we have to."

“I filled out the survey on-line and I think our county and the state of Wisconsin does have a problem with alcohol,” says Robin Hanson who lives outside of Barron in Barron County.

Hanson says she feels underage drinking is one of the biggest problems in her county. She wanted to do her part to help stop it.

"I guess as a community we need to work help fix that,” Hanson says.

Other people in Barron County say they think drinking and driving is the biggest alcohol-related problem in the county.

You can find a link to the alcohol survey below this article under related links.