When he learned that three teenage lifeguards had apparently been drinking around the time their car was seen swerving in Jamestown earlier this summer — but that only the driver had been arrested — one state representative couldn’t believe it.

“You’re kidding,” state Rep. Bruce Long, R-Middletown, Jamestown, said to Jamestown police Chief Thomas Tighe.

The problem, he learned, is that the police can only arrest minors for alcohol possession, not consumption. In other words, if they’re caught with a beer in their hand, they can be charged. If they smell like liquor and are slurring, they can’t.

“If someone is 20 years or younger and drunk and staggering, there is nothing the police can do except take them into the police station and call their parents,” said Long.

It turns out, he said, that Rhode Island is 1 of 18 or fewer states that does not have a law prohibiting liquor consumption by minors. If the state wants to get serious about the problem of underage drinking, then legislators need to toughen the laws, he said.

“We have been working on drunk driving laws for several years now and there’s this gaping hole in the law that most people are just not aware of,” said Long, who pledged to introduce legislation closing this “loophole” when the General Assembly convenes in the new year.

Since the lifeguard incident, Long has been working on the consumption issue and other efforts to prevent teen drinking with law enforcement officials and members of the Jamestown Substance Abuse Prevention Task Force.

On June 26, Jamestown police received reports from witnesses of a car being operated erratically in the middle of the afternoon. At one point, it was traveling down Beavertail Road with a flat tire. Their investigation determined that three lifeguards had been drinking while on the job and that two of them left in a car. The police charged the 19-year-old driver, Kristy Labelle, of North Kingstown, with driving under the influence. All three were fired from their jobs.

The following month, the task force hosted a community forum on teen drinking that featured a talk by an expert in substance-abuse prevention. Only four days later, the police had to deal with more episodes of teen drinking.

On Aug. 4 and 5, the police investigated three separate incidents within a span of two hours. In the first, a car hit a rock after leaving Beavertail State Park. Four people under 21 were in the car and all were suspected of drinking, said the police, who recovered alcoholic beverages near the scene and in woods nearby. The driver, Zachary Merritt, 18, of North Kingstown, was charged with driving under the influence and possession of alcohol by a minor.

Next, a car was severely damaged when it hit a stone wall on Tashtassuc Road and rolled over. The driver, Jason Kerbel, 18, of North Kingstown, was charged with drunken driving and refusal to submit to a chemical test. A juvenile passenger went to the hospital with minor injuries.

In the third incident, a patrol officer came upon an unoccupied car that had hit a tree. His investigation led him to a nearby house where the driver smelled of alcohol, the officer said. The 18-year-old boy said he had fallen asleep at the wheel at the time of the crash. No charges were filed.

The Jamestown incidents spurred Long to call a news conference on the island on Monday to underscore the dangers of underage drinking and the need for a law prohibiting alcohol consumption by minors.

“It’s not that Jamestown has this high prevalence [of underage drinkers], there has just been this flurry of activity,” said Long.

Long has publicly admitted his own past problems with addiction. Two years ago, amid a bitter divorce, Long responded to some of his ex-wife’s accusations by acknowledging that he had been in recovery for seven years. During an interview yesterday, he downplayed the connection between his personal troubles and his current substance-abuse prevention work.

“This isn’t about me,” he said. “It’s so easy for me to become the subject of this story. I know the effects. I know what it does. If I can help anybody by being up here and doing this, that’s good.

“I know the carnage of alcohol addiction. If we can keep alcohol away from youths until they are 21 years old, the chance of them becoming addicted is so reduced,” he said. “It’s a matter of the parents and the community and the society developing a change in our culture. We must advocate for zero tolerance. …We must work as hard as we can to eliminate it.”

One important tool, he said, would be a consumption law. Research by Laura Holsey, the volunteer coordinator of the Jamestown task force, found that in January 2007, Rhode Island was 1 of 18 states that lacked such a law. In New England, he said, states with such laws include Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont.

Long noted that more research will be necessary to determine how such laws are enforced and what exceptions are permitted. For example, he said, some states allow underage drinking for religious observances or at home with parents.

He said he will soon give a presentation on the proposal for the new law to the Rhode Island Police Chief Association. It’s president, Warwick Chief Stephen McCartney, showed his support by appearing at the news conference on Monday. Jamestown Lt. William Donovan also attended.

“Right now, the way the law is structured, we can find that youth … and it’s quite obvious what their condition is,” he said, “ but if they are not in possession of alcohol, if they are not holding a can of beer,” they can’t be charged for drinking.

rsalit@projo.com