Cash registers were ringing at the State Liquor Store in Provo as Attorney General Mark Shurtleff helped introduce a new national campaign against teen drinking. But it wasn't the clerks who were the target of his message.

Shurtleff on Monday helped kick off "We Don't Serve Teens" week, the beginning of a national campaign urging parents and other adults not to provide alcohol to minors. The campaign is a partnership between law enforcement, industry groups and the Federal Trade Commission.

According to a study by the Century Council, a non-profit, alcohol industry-funded organization formed to combat drunk driving and underage drinking, 65 percent of teenagers who drink get their alcohol from older relatives and friends.

"A lot of teens are drinking. A lot of kids are binge drinking. We need to continue to get the message out here to families and parents and everybody else that we need to be responsible and talk to our kids," Shurtleff said as rows of vodka and whiskey bottles sat in the background. "They get it the most from people they know."

As part of the nationwide campaign, the Century Council has provided signs to 108 business that sell alcohol in Utah. A public service announcement featuring Shurtleff will play on radios across the state, and a television commercial will be aired on several cable stations.

About a year ago, it became somewhat popular for parents to sponsor alcohol parties for their kids, Shurtleff said. The parents figured their kids would drink anyway, and if they oversaw the parties then they could at least keep the kids from driving drunk. Those parents were well-intentioned, Shurtleff said, but they were breaking the law.

Providing alcohol to minors is a class A misdemeanor, punishable with up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine. But Shurtleff said he isn't trying to scare parents.

"We want to motivate them, not out of fear that they're going to be charged, but out of responsibility to the young people," he said after the event.

Mary Ann Mantes, the commissioner of Utah's Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, said her department does a good job of keeping licensed retail establishments from selling alcohol to kids. But more must be done, she said.

"All of us here are doing our part to stop underage drinking. But this must be a community effort. Everyone participating in today's event is key to the success of this campaign," she said.

Shurtleff is a member of the National Association of Attorneys General, and when he talks about drinking, he said, many of his colleagues from other states say, 'What do you carefi They don't drink in Utah.' But that's not true, he said.

According to Provo police Chief Craig Geslison, who spoke at Monday's event, 145 teenagers under the age of 18 were arrested last year in Utah for driving under the influence, and 2,500 more were arrested for other alcohol-related offenses. Studies show that the highest teen drinking rates in the state are in Summit County, Shurtleff said, where 25 percent of high school seniors are binge drinking and 50 percent have consumed alcohol in the past 30 days.

"While it is certainly important that retail establishments discourage sales and do everything possible to eliminate sales to underage individuals, it's also important ... to understand that most of the alcohol that underage people get is from family and friends," Geslison said. "So it's imperative that parents, retail establishments and community groups work together in this fight against underage drinking."

Shurtleff said one major goal of the "We Don't Serve Teens" campaign is to give parents more opportunities to talk to their kids about alcohol, especially now that the school year has started. Many parents believe their kids won't listen to them if they try to talk about the dangers of alcohol, he said, but research shows that parents are the leading influence in kids' lives when it comes to making decisions about alcohol.

"Now is the time to be talking to them," he said.

Jeremy Duda can be reached at 344-2561 or jduda@heraldextra.com.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page B1.