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Starting next month, Mercer Island parents will be held responsible for underage drinking at their homes even if they are out of town and unaware it is happening.
The recently passed "social host" ordinance, believed to be the first of its kind in the state, will take effect Jan. 13. The measure imposes a $250 fine on those who own, rent or lease property where teenage drinking has occurred.
Let me punch a "Tough ****" card. This has been the law in MD for years to combat parents supplying their kids with alcohol, throwing parties for them and stocking the Prom limos with booze. Someone has to be the adult when parents choose not to.
Let me punch a "Tough ****" card. This has been the law in MD for years to combat parents supplying their kids with alcohol, throwing parties for them and stocking the Prom limos with booze. Someone has to be the adult when parents choose not to.
Exactly. If you can't trust your kids to do the right thing when you're out of town, then you shouldn't leave them alone unsupervised. I have 4 boys in high school and one in Jr. High. I would be furious if they went to a friend's home and the parents served them alcohol, or if they just looked the other way while the kids were drinking. We're having a New Year's eve party here for our boys and their friends, and I promise you--if we find that any of the kids try to sneak in alcohol we WILL call their parents and take their keys.
When I was a teen in the late 70s, the drinking age was 18. Kids would leave the high school and go to the bar over the lunch hour (or drink beer in the parking lot) and come back to school drunk. It wasn't a good thing.
I agree with the proposition of holding parents responsible (... even if they 'didn't know').
Years ago, when my kids were in high school, I learned of various parties where parents in our rather affluent area either 'turned a blind eye' or actually provided the alcohol for underage drinking parties.
At the next school (booster) meeting, I took the floor and advised the audience of parents that I would ensure that the police showed-up at the next party I found out about where alcohol was being served. It didn't make me too popular with a lot of parents and kids, plus my kids took a little heat, but, it was much better than the alternative: 'half-drunk, underage, high school kids driving around in the middle of the night ... putting themselves and others in danger.
The article's writer and several posters have cried about how unfair it is to hold parents responsible (... when they didn't even know). But, isn't that the operative concept of parents (not kids) being the 'responsible ones?' If kids were responsible enough to drink at whatever age they wanted ... and then responsibly control their own limits... and behave responsibly when they were drunk --- then we could hold kids responsible.
Responsible parenting means that parents DO KNOW what their kids are doing, where and with whom! Parents who have no idea that their child is drunk ... or on drugs ... or serving alcohol to other minors in their home ARE irresponsible parents ---and should be held responsible for the potential danger and damage posed by their irresponsible children.
lets see, a group of teens break into a home and have an underage party of drinking and boozing. then the city fines the home owners for the teens law breaking.
looks like a lawsuit waiting to happen for the city.
Last edited by monkeywrenching; 12-30-2011 at 09:40 PM..
"Cero acknowledged the measure is an extreme step, but he said the need to fight underage drinking outweighed concerns about infringement on personal liberties."
Ah no concerns about your liberties. YOU DON'T HAVE ANY!!
That is what this clown is saying.
This is nonsense. Parents get fined and the kids doing it walk free. Way to teach responsibility and we wonder why a bunch of spoiled rotten brats are running around these OWS protest whining and moaning about how nothing is fair. Gimme friggen break. Washington has turned into a cesspool of tree hugging loons. They've destroyed California and now move because of the mess they created and infest a new state.
"Cero acknowledged the measure is an extreme step, but he said the need to fight underage drinking outweighed concerns about infringement on personal liberties."
Ah no concerns about your liberties. YOU DON'T HAVE ANY!!
That is what this clown is saying.
This is nonsense. Parents get fined and the kids doing it walk free. Way to teach responsibility and we wonder why a bunch of spoiled rotten brats are running around these OWS protest whining and moaning about how nothing is fair. Gimme friggen break. Washington has turned into a cesspool of tree hugging loons. They've destroyed California and now move because of the mess they created and infest a new state.
make the drinking age 18, after all if you are old enough to fight and die for your country at age 18, or 17 with your parents permission, you are old enough to drink.
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