The public is invited to a town hall-style meeting Thursday night in Puyallup to discuss ways to halt underage drinking.

The meeting will be conducted by Pierce County Leadership for Alcohol-free Youth and the Tacoma Pierce County DUI Task Force. It is scheduled to last from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the Puyallup Public Library, 324 S. Meridian, the task force reported.

The meeting will attempt to create a community climate in which youths choose not to drink. Panelists will include a police officer, city prosecutor, insurance agent, drug and alcohol counselor and a victim of a car crash where an impaired teen was behind the wheel.

Puyallup High School student Hannah Cassidy will also led a session. She's spearheaded a group of 10 students who support one another's goal not to drink or use drugs, the task force reported.

Puyallup Police Sgt. Robert Thompson had this to say about the seriousness of underage drinking.

"Teenagers drink to get drunk, very drunk these days. We have to send them to the hospital for alcohol poisoning, traffic crashes, broken bones, suicide attempts and rape when we as a community could be preventing all these tragedies."

Thompson said his department has a no-tolerance policy toward underage drinking and that teenagers breaking underage drinking laws in the city will be arrested. “That message needs to be at the forefront this graduation season and all year long,” he said.