People with their children's best interests in mind should applaud the county's decision to implement a hotline for reporting underage drinking.

The hotline, once operational, will allow people to report incidents anonymously, hopefully eliminating some people's reluctance to make such a call. When people call 911 or a police department, they are asked to provide their name and address.

Some people are reluctant to call authorities about underage drinking because oftentimes they are acquainted with the people responsible and/or involved and don't want to be tied to the call, or don't want to become part of any possible legal proceedings, albeit if only on the district court level.

If the proposed hotline is embraced by the public in the way that it should be, it's reasonable to conclude that lives could be saved — for example, if underage drinkers are kept from getting behind the wheel of a vehicle and endangering themselves and innocent people on the highways.

The hotline will provide a means for catching underage drinkers as they are engaged in that drinking.

Those who call the hotline will reach the county detective's office. The detective's office will then notify state or municipal police, who will act on the caller's tip.

As an article in Monday's Butler Eagle reported, the idea for the hotline came from an effort by County Detective Scott Roskovski; District Attorney Richard Goldinger; Dale Pinkerton, chairman of the county board of commissioners; and the county's Drug and Alcohol Program.

At last Wednesday's commissioners meeting, Pinkerton addressed the importance of having the new resource as a means for curbing the growing underage-drinking problem.

Roskovski noted experts' thinking that substance abuse often begins with drinking and that addressing people's addictions when they are younger improves chances for helping them break the habit.

The existence of the hotline hopefully not only will discourage some people from engaging in underage drinking but also could discourage adults from supplying booze to those who haven't reached the legal drinking age of 21.

The exact date for the start-up of the hotline has not yet been announced. The date will be determined based on when Penn Telecom provides a toll-free hotline number. That is expected to be available by the end of the month.

County officials should widely disseminate the hotline number as quickly as possible. And, they should periodically provide reminders of how the hotline works — to make people comfortable using it.

Right-thinking people don't look kindly on underage drinking, or adults who have a role in promoting it. The hotline will enable people troubled by underage drinking to turn their opposition to such drinking into meaningful action, even if it involves the difficult decision of turning in someone they know.