An undercover survey conducted by the Honolulu Liquor Commission showed 35 percent of liquor establishments served alcohol to minors, the commission said yesterday.

The survey, which included city bars, pubs, restaurants and cabarets, was conducted between August 2005 and February 2006.

Dewey Kim Jr., liquor commission administrator, said stopping underage alcohol use is important since it's "a first entry drug that kids will try and go on to other things like cocaine, marijuana, crack."

The results of the study are both good and bad, Kim said.

"It's good in a sense because a number of years ago, it was 85 percent," he said.

"Thirty-five percent is still way too much," Mayor Mufi Hannemann said yesterday.

Retail stores that sell liquor were not included in the survey because they are monitored by the police and the Health Department, Kim said.

The Team PLUS (Preventing Liquor Underage Sales) survey was a project of the Cancer Research Center of Hawai'i and the Honolulu Liquor Commission.

Kim said the city and liquor commission will go to local liquor-selling establishments to give on-site training on preventing underage drinking.

Hannemann yesterday also announced a new campaign to curb underage drinking, featuring actress Tani Lynn Fujimoto.

Fujimoto, a cast member on NBC's Discovery Kids' show "Flight 29 Down," said alcohol is a prevalent problem for teens.

"It's something we deal with every day," said Fujimoto, 18. "We need to be less tolerant to this problem and we need to be more adamant to getting it fixed."

The campaign will attempt to curb underage drinking through education, regulation and enforcement, Hannemann said. Educational materials will be distributed through satellite city halls, the bus system and at driver's education classes in public schools.

Reach Robert Shikina at rshikina@honoluluadvertiser.com.