According to the Oakland Tribune, Gillio said that at this time Sarah’s cause of death is unknown and it is also unknown what caused this condition in her lungs. The coroner’s investigation may take four to six weeks depending on the timing of the toxicology reports.

Gillio said Sarah and 18-year-old Kayla Dunigan had gone to the home of a 16-year-old friend to celebrate the 16-year-old’s birthday. "At 10:45 p.m., the three girls snuck out of this residence and went to a 15-year-old male friend’s house," according to a chronology released by Gilroy police at a news conference. "This 15-year-old male is the son of a Gilroy police officer.

"While at this residence, Botill may have consumed up to one-quarter of a 12-ounce beer. The officer was not aware that the girls were at his residence."

The three teenagers socialized at their male friend’s house for about two hours, Gillio said. They went home about 1 a.m. That was when Dunigan brought out a 750 milliliter bottle of Ketel One vodka "that she had taken from her father’s home without his knowledge," Gillio said. "The three girls mixed vodka and sparkling cider."

Gillio said the girls drank for about two hours, consuming about one-half of the bottle, which "translates to about 12 ounces total," Gillio said. "We do not know how much each girl drank."

According to the chronology, Sarah told Dunigan at 4:15 a.m. that she had vomited in the bathroom. The 16-year-old was asleep. Sarah vomited a few more times and Dunigan checked on her several times.

Dunigan and Sarah agreed that it would be best if Sarah slept in the bathroom just in case she got sick again. Dunigan went home about 5 a.m. because "she indicated to us she didn’t like seeing someone throw up," Gillio said.

The 16-year-old was awakened at 7 a.m. by the sound of Sarah vomiting. "Botill was talking and coherent, but related that she was not feeling well. The 16-year-old continued to talk with and care for Botill," according to the chronology.

About 8 a.m., the 16-year-old asked her mother for help with Sarah.

"The 16-year-old and Sarah decided to put on bathing suits and take a shower so that they could clean up the vomit off of Botill. Botill was able to change herself and put on the bathing suit. The shower lasted for around 20 minutes. They were not trying to sober up Botill as has been reported," Gillio said.

Sarah’s breathing became labored and a call was made to 911 at 8:44 a.m, and she died at a nearby hospital at 9:30 a.m.

More than 1,000 people crowded into South Valley Community Church in Gilroy for Sarah’s memorial. Her father is Gilroy firefighter Mike Botill, and four rows of the church were taken up by firefighters from Gilroy and surrounding communities.

Her mother, Michelle Botill, said Sarah "is and always will be such a source of joy" — always smiling, always trying to make people laugh. "She would always write me notes, little love notes and hug and kiss me," her mother said. "’I love you mama,’ that’s what she would tell me all the time."

Botill said she worried about her daughter, that she was too carefree, but said Sarah told her "’Mom, you can’t always freak out about everything. Everything is going to be fine.’"

Botill said she saw her daughter the evening of Dec. 5 as she was heading out and she asked her a lot of questions and said her daughter did what she always did: "She looked at me with those eyes and melted me. She was definitely becoming a social butterfly."

The event, held at Showcase Live at Patriot Place, was organized by Comcast, A&E, and the Tri Town Drug and Alcohol Awareness Partnership, an organization of Mansfield, Foxboro, and Norton officials, parents, and students uniting to fight drug and alcohol abuse in the area.

Matt Kakley of the Sun Chronicle writes that Isha Raval, a junior at Foxboro High, said she got involved with the partnership through her work with her school’s chapter of Students Against Destructive Decisions, and to show other students that alcohol isn’t needed for a good time.

"I don’t have to drink to have fun," she said. "There’s better ways to have fun."

The program kicked off with a screening of an episode of "Intervention," a series that deals with families and friends confronting their drug- and alcohol-addicted loved ones. The episode shown Thursday featured Jill, who began drinking in high school and became increasingly dependent on alcohol, causing her life to spiral out of control.

Kathi Meyer, whose 17-year-old daughter, Taylor, a King Philip Regional High School senior from Plainville, drowned last October in an alcohol-related incident, was featured in a town hall-style meeting after the screening, sharing her tragedy in the hopes that other parents do not have to experience what she has.

"She drowned because of the alcohol in her system, she got lost because of the alcohol in her system," Meyer said of her daughter.

Meyer told parents in the audience that the biggest regrets she had were not having access to her daughter’s Facebook.com account, the cell phone numbers of Taylor’s friends, and a better dialogue with fellow parents.

Meyer was joined on the panel by Bristol County District Attorney Sam Sutter and Jeff Van Vonderen, one of the three interventionists on the A&E program, and Cameron Clapp, a California native who, in 2001 at the age of 15, lost his right arm and both of his legs when he was struck by a speeding train after a night of drinking.

"I was in no conscious state to see or hear the train coming," he told the audience. "I should have been dead."

Thursday’s event drew so many attendees that only 400 could fit inside Showcase Live, with approximately 100 more watching a simulcast of the program in a nearby movie theater.
 

The pilot program will operate in Melbourne’s southern and eastern suburbs and in Gippsland. The chief executive of Anglicare Victoria, Dr. Ray Cleary, says the program will place emphasis on the role of families in stamping out problem drinking.

"The program will include therapeutic counseling for both the family and the individual and hopefully we will be able to tap into the strengths of families and help them address the issues as much as we are with the young person," he said.

The program will also help parents talk to their children about responsible drinking.

"The approach will also be about helping adults realize how young people can simply copy their own behavior so it’s about responsible drinking within the whole family, not just for the young person, but also hopefully for adults as well so that there’s a role model approach in this particular program."

Science Daily reported on the findings of a new study that suggest that young people are using the visible standard drink label to increase or even maximize the amount of alcohol they consume at the lowest cost possible. This study examined young people in Australia and determined that there is a very high awareness of standard drink labeling.

This standard appears to be useful to young people in helping them to select the drinks that would get them drunk in the shortest time possible. The labels are also used as guides so young people can determine which drink would reduce the time needed to get drunk and the least they would need to drink so they get the best value for their money.

"Participants generally agreed that they notice drink labels and take in account what to purchase and consume,” said co-author Professor Sandra Jones from the Centre for Health Initiatives, University of Wollongong, in the Science Daily.

“While earlier research with adult beer and alcohol drinkers has shown that standard drink labeling enables them to drink safely and responsibly, this motivation is not evident in the consumption choices with young drinkers and might even be counter-productive."

Australia has been fighting the increase of heavy episodic drinking among young people. Researchers estimate that from 1993-2002, more than 2,500 young people aged 15-24 have died from alcohol-attributable injury and disease. Another 100,000 have been hospitalized.

Professor Jones added, "There is a need to consider the deeper implications about alcohol packaging and marketing as they have real potential to impact and reduce alcohol-related harms. There is still an important role for standard drink labeling as long as it is combined with other policies addressing the price, availability and marketing of alcohol – which are of proven effectiveness in reducing alcohol related harm."