Wyoming, beer and boredom

School districts across the country are facing budget cuts. And first on the chopping block are the after-school activities that provide students with outlets for their energy in safe and responsible environments.\nDespite their problems, after-school programs do entice students away from drugs, crime and general mayhem. But while school is logically the best place for athletics, art and music, a new government study shows that it does, in fact, take a whole village to raise a child.\nAccording to a survey conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, residents in exceedingly rural communities -- specifically in states like Wyoming, Montana and the Dakotas -- have the highest rate of alcohol abuse by people 12 and older. The survey, which defined binge-drinking as five or more drinks at a single sitting, found that 30 percent of people younger than 20 in south-central Wyoming abuse alcohol -- a full 50 percent higher than the national average.\nConversely, the lowest-ranking regions were densely populated cities such as Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles, confirming data from an earlier study that found "rural youths ages 12 and 13 were twice as likely as urban youths to abuse alcohol" (New York Times).\nThe article cites a number of explanations, including an influx of some 200,000 orphans from 1854-1929. Another is the notion that a dog-eat-dog world has been impressed on the local psyche, which in turn has encouraged drinking and rowdy behavior. Similarly, to local residents, Wyoming is the last frontier of the American West, an untamed wilderness where the only thing to keep you warm is a bottle of Jack Daniels and the grizzly bear you killed with your bare hands.\nBut there's a much simpler explanation available: "I think so many kids drink because the state is barren, desolate and boring to some people, and there is not really anything to do," a recent high school graduate told the New York Times Sept. 2. And isn't that always the excuse? I myself am from the Washington, D.C., area, and I can't even count the number of times my friends and I would just sit there racking our brains for something -- anything -- to do. Sure, we could go to Starbucks or the mall or a movie, but after-hours there isn't any more to do in a big city than a Podunk town in rural Wyoming. The best nightlife is 21-plus anywhere you go. Even my local bowling alley was closed to minors after 9 p.m. \nWith all the instant gratification available to kids between the hours of 8 a.m. and 9 p.m., it's no wonder that the already rambunctious youth suffers severe withdrawal between 10 p.m. and 3 a.m. that manifests itself in reckless, irresponsible behavior. If a community -- rural or urban -- really wants to reign in its hard-drinking, tough-talking cowpokes, then it's going to be expensive. Local government is going to have to provide distractions 24/7, or else the kids will make their own fun double-fisting a case of Budweiser at 85 miles an hour.