They also found a girl lying unconscious in the restroom. She was taken to the hospital and treated for alcohol poisoning.

Deputies indicate that such parties have been occurring in Saratoga with alarming frequency.

"We busted several since the beginning of the year," said Capt. John Hirokawa of the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department.

With spring break over, and graduation just around the corner, deputies expect an increase in the number of underage drinking parties.

"These things go in cycles. It happens in high schools all over the country," Hirokawa said.

He said that teenagers are now gathering in smaller groups to avoid detection. "It's a lot different from the '80s where we would come across parties where more than 200 people had shown up," Hirokawa said.

Deputy Eileen Phares, the school resource officer for Saratoga, says that drinking alcohol is often seen as a rite of passage at high schools.

"They will find an older friend who can legally buy alcohol or sometimes even shoplift," said Phares.

In recent months, the sheriff's office has been using an underage decoy to find sales clerks who sell alcohol to minors without asking for identification first.

Karyn Hyde, an assistant principal at Saratoga High School, says the problem arises because drinking is glorified everywhere. "Kids are impressionable," she said. "We go into every classroom and talk to them about expected behavior."

Hyde said that problems begin whenever parents go out of town for the weekend or a vacation.

"Don't leave a teen alone even if he or she is the best kid in the world," she said.

Hyde said that the moment there is an empty house, friends usually come by, sometimes leading to an impromptu party.

"Some of these kids are not very respectful. Sometimes 20 or more teenagers will end up totally trashing a house," Hyde said.

She said that the high school plans to bring a motivational speaker to the school in October to talk to students about the risks of alcohol. "The speaker is someone whose life was affected as a result of underage drinking," said Hyde.

She said that there had been a number of suspensions at the school this year that were alcohol-related.

"I sometimes wonder what it will take before they get the message," she said.

Hirokawa isn't sure either.

"There is a perception among teenagers that they won't have a good time unless alcohol is involved," he said.

Hirokawa said that the juveniles call the sheriff's department only as a last resort.

"We're called when the fights have started and people are unconscious," he said. "They fear that they are going to get into more trouble if they call us."

Deputies say that at some private graduation parties, teenagers drink alcohol openly in front of their parents.

"We'll be a lot more strict this year. There will be fewer warnings and more arrests and citations," said Hirokawa.

Results from the California Healthy Kids Survey 2003-04 show that 28 percent of Saratoga High School students have been drunk at some point in their lives while about 14 percent had resorted to binge drinking.

"These figures are a little old but they are still relevant. Student-generated programming might make a difference," said L.D. Hirschklau, project director of healthy lifestyles for the Los Gatos-Saratoga Joint Unified High School District.

Phares said it is the responsibility of parents to make their expectations clear to children.

"If there is a problem or an emergency, the children must be able to reach their parents," she said. "I fear that we are going to find a dead kid one of these days."