General Drinking

Underage DrinkingThere were 685 pieces of data collected, in other words, during the sample period 685 alcohol related charges occurred in Price County. The total fines issued exceeded $180,000.

Each charge was recorded and categorized. The records contain 16 different charges. These charges consist of:

1. Operating with PAC .02 or more 9. Minor transporting intoxicants in motor vehicle2. Operating with .08 ≤ PAC < .1 10. Cause of injury white intoxicated3. Operating with PAC .10 or more 11. Adult permitting underage drinking4. Operating while intoxicated 12. OWI related5. Selling/giving alcohol to minors 13. Refusal of blood alcohol test6. Underage drinking 14. Drinking on public ways7. Open intoxicants 15. Liquor license restriction violation8. Violating absolute sobriety 16. Possession of alcohol

Charge

Count

16151413121110987654321

200

150

100

50

0

Bar Graph of the Number of Charges

Operating while intoxicated resulted in the most offenses, 214, followed by 164 offenses of underage drinking.

Count

C5

C6

mf

1615141312111098765432116151413121110987654321

180

160

140

120

100

80

60

40

20

0

Comparison of Male and Female Charges

Over 70% of all offenses were charged to males. Importantly, the most common charge with both genders was operating while intoxicated, followed closely by underage drinking charges.

Totals and Averages

Total Average

Days in Jail 1517 2.215

Ages 20778 30.33

Fines $187,187.82 $274.23

Alcohol Consumption in Price County WisconsinCarolyn Otto & Jacquelyn Dumin

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Carl Schoen

Department of Mathematics • University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire

Results

Time (0 is Jan. 1992 and 13.5 is June 2005)

Number of Charg

es

14131211109876543210

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

Number of Charges vs. Time

Out of the total offenses, individuals under the age of 21 were charged 233 times. In addition, eight charges involved minors but were not charged to minors. These charges are not included in the following data.

Time (0 is Jan. 1992 and 13.5 is June 2005)

Fine A

mounts

in D

olla

rs

14131211109876543210

5000

4000

3000

2000

1000

0

Fines vs. Time

Count

C6 169876543

180

160

140

120

100

80

60

40

20

0

fm

Gender

Gender and the Number of Charges

Totals and Averages

Total Average

Ages 4348 18.66

Fines $43,912.15

$188.46

Community Service

72 hours 0.309 hours

Time

Num

ber

of Charg

es

14131211109876543210

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

Number of Charges vs. Time

Acknowledgements

As with the general drinking category, the majority of underage charges belonged to males. Also, it is apparent that underage consumption creates the most underage offenses.

Two months, June 1993 and January 1998 had the largest number of charges. 25 charges occurred in June 1993 and 28 in January 1998.

Fines for underage related charges are very scattered across the 14-year span. Interestingly, June 2004 had almost as much in fines as June 1993 (the second highest month for offenses).

No jail time was issued for any of the underage charges. However, the court issued community serviced in a few situations.

• Center for Alcohol Studies & Education (CASE)

•The Herald, local newspaper of Park Falls, WI

•Graphs and statistics created and computed by Minitab and Microsoft Excel

Conclusions

For our research project entitled “Alcohol Consumption in Price County Wisconsin” a history and mathematical component were completed. Research into the newspaper records of Price County and demographic data for the county completed the historical component. For the years between 1992 and 2005 microfilm and hard copy newspapers were accessed providing the published court records. These records supplied us with data about underage drinking along with many other alcohol related offenses such as drinking and driving, and selling to underage persons.

Introduction & Methodology

Hypotheses

Hypotheses formulated about the consumption of alcohol in Price County include;

1. Drinking is more prevalent in winter months (Dec/Jan) than in late spring months (May/June).

2. A) The average amount of fines is equal to $300. B) The average amount of fines for underage offenses will be $300.

3. The fine amount for underage consumption charges will increase over time (inflation).

4. Underage offenses will increase in coming years

5. More males will be charged with underage related offenses.

Hypothesis One: Drinking is more prevalent in winter months (Dec/Jan) than in late spring months (May/June).

Hypothesis Two: A) The average amount of fines is equal to $300.

The above table shows the average amount of fines was $274.23 per person. A standard z-test was conducted using Minitab and the hypothesis failed to be rejected with a 5% confidence level.

Hypothesis Two: B) The average amount of fines for underage offenses is equal to $300.

In the table above, the average amount of fines was $188.46 per person. Again, a standard z-test was conducted in Minitab and the hypothesis was rejected. In other words, significant evidence exists that the mean is lower. This result is consistent with the facts in the table.

Hypothesis Three: The fine amount for underage consumption charges will increase over time.

Hypothesis Four: Underage offenses will increase in coming years.

In the above section, the graph of underage charges over time is presented. In fitting the data and finding the regression line, it was found no correlation exists between the two. In other words, there is no way to tell if the offenses will increase using time as variable.

Hypothesis Five: More males will be charged with underage related offenses.

Over 70% of the charges of underage drinking were issued to males. Minitab confirmed this result with the data.

Time of Year

Count

JuneJanuary

400

300

200

100

0

Number of Charges in January and June

Year

Fine A

mounts

in D

olla

rs

20062004200220001998199619941992

240

230

220

210

200

190

180

170

160

150

Fine Amounts over Time

Fines=-13385 + 6.80 Year

Over the past 14 years, Januarys contained 282 offenses. June listings contained 403. However, the graph to the left does not provide sufficient evidence to make a decisive conclusion. The number of charges in January and June for each year were calculated and a two-sample t-test was conducted to test if the differences of the means equaled zero. The test concluded there is significant evidence that more alcohol related charges occur in May and June rather than December and January.

This hypothesis is very intuitive. The graph at the left illustrates of the amount charged to individuals who received a ticket for underage drinking. The correlation coefficient was r = 0.9659 which means there is a strong positive correlation between time and the amount of the fine. In order words, the fines are going to continue to increase in years to come.

Research into The Herald (Park Falls’ newspaper) and The Bee (Phillips’ newspaper) provided the published court records as previously mentioned. The demographic research provided information on how many people lived in the county and various towns and townships during this period. This information will be gained by study of the bluebook and census records between 1992 and 2005. Combined, this information will allow a math model to be formed predicting future use of alcohol, especially use by underage persons.

The map above highlights the north central part of Wisconsin. Within the smaller box Price County is located in the upper right section. Phillips is the county seat. Eau Claire County is located in the lower left portion of the map for reference.

The gathered data confirmed many of our hypothesis's;

The average amount of fines was close to $300

The amount in fines for underage drinkers will increase over time

Males received the majority of underage citations.

But, we received surprises as well;

We believed the amount of citations would be higher in December and January than May and June when the opposite turned out to be true.

We believed the average underage drinking citation would be close to $300, the true average was almost half that amount.

Not being able to use time to predict future underage drinking provides the most important discovery of this research. Originally we believed time would provide an accurate prediction, this was proven false.

We now know much more about alcohol consumption, especially underage consumption, in Price County Wisconsin. Some of our hypothesis’s were proven correct and some false with additional answers provided. Not being able to use time as a predictor for future underage alcohol abuse provides the most interesting conclusion of our research. Hopefully this discovery will prove time saving when future researchers investigate alcohol consumption in this area of the state.