Underage And Drinking — Part 1

Newtown Ordinance Still Not Backed Up By State Legislation

By John Voket

(This is the first of a multipart series on Underage Drinking focusing on local government, law enforcement, schools, and the community.)

If one examined underage drinking as a significant public health and safety concern statewide, and particularly in Newtown, the issue might resemble a puzzle with the final picture taking shape. But according to dozens of authorities attending a recent statewide forum on the subject, one of the final pieces of that puzzle is missing.

That piece represents a connectedness between the state government, which this year failed once again to pass key legislation related to underage drinking, and the growing minority of Connecticut communities including Newtown that have enacted ordinances targeting one of the largest components of the problem: house parties.

More specifically, according to sources at that local conference including representatives of Newtown Youth Services WIRED (We Invite Rethinking about Engaging in Drugs and Drinking), the problem of underage drinking is exacerbated by a few parents and adults who not only condone the practice in their private homes, but actually provide the liquor being consumed.

Citing a lack of constituent support, the Connecticut legislature failed to pass, for a third time, a statewide law that would have given more teeth to local ordinances like the one in Newtown, so police officers could step across private property lines, and if necessary, into homes to infiltrate gatherings where underage individuals are consuming alcohol and arrest those providing it.

In 2003, when Newtown passed its host and underage drinking ordinance, it was only one of a dozen communities across the state with such a statute. But according to representatives from the Governor’s Prevention Partnership and its Coalition to Stop Underage Drinking, the number of local communities to pass similar ordinances has doubled in just the past year.

That is why policy, health, and law enforcement professionals across the state believe the next session of the state legislature will finally see a law adopted that most agree will prevent countless tragedies from needless drunk driving-related deaths to teen alcoholism to drunken sexual assaults.

In the last legislative session, Themis Klarides, who represents part of Derby, put forth a bill she believed would provide support and enforcement to responsible parents and young people. She tagged the initiative as a deterrent, giving police a measure that helps prevent tragedy and irresponsible acts before they happen.

A legislative report on the bill indicated it would not violate Fourth Amendment constitutional protections because it does not authorize any specific search by police or new search and seizure powers by any law enforcement authority. Rather, the legislation prohibits specific conduct on private property — providing alcohol to minors and possession by them under certain circumstances.

“The law does not reduce the constitutional threshold for police to enter private property. They must have probable cause or a warrant,” the report indicated.

Newtown’s local ordinance provides a $90 fine, just under the constitutional maximum of $99 for such ordinances, to “any person hosting an event which allows the consumption or dispensing of alcoholic liquor to or by any minors unless said minor is or are accompanied by or in the presence of his or her [own] parent, guardian or spouse who has attained the age of 21 years.” The local ordinance is enforceable at any gathering of two or more people, regardless of whether that gathering occurs on public or private property.

Newtown High School juniors Shannon Hayes and Linda Chamiec-Case, who represented the local WIRED contingent at the recent conference, told The Bee that underage drinking at private homes in Newtown is “a common weekend and evening activity.” Shannon, who chairs the NYS group, said she is hearing that the number of house parties serving liquor to minors, whether or not it is condoned or provided by legal adults, expands significantly around the time of school activities like sporting events, dances, and the proms.

But the pair said summer is the busiest time for underage drinking parties, when they agreed such activities could be found almost any night of the week.

“Summer is the most dangerous time. There are no sports, no school [activities] and kids have a lot of freedom,” Shannon said.

“On any night during the summer you can have 1,500 kids looking for something to do,” Linda added. “You have kids going to Danbury or to other people’s houses and drinking, and then they’re driving back to town, or around the back roads from party to party.”

The WIRED representatives believe, however, that the number of adults condoning the parties and providing alcohol is minimal. And with a stronger community prevention and awareness programs, stronger laws to help curb house parties where alcohol is available, and the addition of more organized youth-oriented activities, the problem of rampant underage drinking in Newtown could be diminished significantly.

“Newtown just needs to create alternative opportunities,” Linda said. “We just need more productive things for kids to do, and safe places to do them.”