By JOSEPH KELLARD
“I'm terrified that my 17-year-old son can just be at the wrong place at the wrong time and be a victim of a drunk driver.”
McCormack related her fears to some 50 parents and high school students before she fleshed out Long Beach's social host law at a National Town Hall Meeting on Underage Drinking at the Long Beach Library Tuesday evening. The law makes it a violation for a person “having control of any residence” to allow a party where the host “knows or has reason to know that any alcoholic beverage or drug is being unlawfully possessed, served to or consumed by a minor ...”
McCormick was the keynote speaker at the annual meeting, one of about 1,200 held nationwide on Monday, this one sponsored by the Long Beach Coalition to Prevent Underage Drinking. She said that New York state is “seriously considering” enacting a state-wide social host law, and noted that District Attorney Kathleen Rice wants to create a countywide coalition that would include school administrators as well as the Office of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Services. “We're looking to follow the example set by this great city,” McCormack said.
That example was set in August 2006, when the city became the first municipality in the state, and one of only a handful nationwide, to make it possible to prosecute party hosts if alcohol is consumed by underage guests in their homes. Last July, the county passed its own social host law, but there are disparities between the two laws that McCormack said the county wanted to correct. Long Beach's law carries a $250 fine for a violation, and a third offense brings a potential 15-day maximum jail sentence, but no criminal charges. A violation of the county law is a misdemeanor regardless of the number of offenses, becomes part of a violator's criminal record, and a third offense can land him or her in jail or carry a $1,000 fine.
“It's important that the county operates on a consistent basis,” McCormack said.
She said the law is aimed primarily at those homes that regularly host disruptive parties, whether in Long Beach's West End to fraternity houses at Hofstra. “We're not looking to peek through your curtains looking for a problem,” she said.
McCormack tried to sell the law as something of a crutch for parents, giving them a better reason to stop underage drinking at their homes, lest they lose those homes in lawsuits.
“When you're not home and your kids are drinking,” one parent asked, “how is [the law] going to be of any use?” Under Long Beach's law, any person 16 or older consuming alcohol with younger children in a home without the owners present would receive a summons, McCormack explained.
She pointed out that if a teen leaves a home after drinking and is injured, the homeowner is potentially liable, having committed a crime for allowing the alcohol consumption. McCormack - who prosecuted Martin Heidgen, who was convicted of murder after killing a limousine driver and 7-year-old Katie Flynn of Lido Beach in 2005 while driving drunk - also highlighted some exceptions in the law. One includes parents who discover that a teen is drinking in their home but he or she refuses to relinquish the alcohol. If they homeowners call the teen's parents or police, they are off the liability hook, McCormack said.
Long Beach High School Principal Nicholas Restivo spoke after McCormack, and distributed the school district's new alcohol and breathalyzers policy, adopted by the Board of Education on March 11. Touted as another step toward promoting a “safe, healthy and productive” school environment, the policy states that school personnel will use a breathalyzer on students only if they have a “reasonable suspicion” that students have been drinking during school hours or school-sponsored events. If a student is found to be intoxicated, he or she faces immediate suspension.
“It is not our intention to test every kid at a prom,” Restivo said, trying to reassure parents and teens who may oppose the policy on the grounds that it violates privacy rights.
The meeting's other speakers included City Council member Lenny Remo, county Legislator Denise Ford and schools Superintendent Dr. Robert Greenberg. Long Beach Police Lt. Michael Tangney cited various statistics about the dangers of underage drinking, told harrowing stories of local teens who suffered serious injuries or died while intoxicated, and showed slides of business and bars around town that advertise alcohol.
Judi Vining, coordinator of the Coalition to Prevent Underage Drinking, shared a revealing statistic: In the 30 days before a national survey was taken, 17 percent of eighth-graders had used alcohol, while the figure for the same age group in Long Beach was 32 percent, and each higher grade in the city was ahead of the nationwide curve.
The coalition, which consists of groups including law enforcement, religious institutions and local media, is seven years into a 20-year mission to “impact and change the community norms and culture surrounding underage drinking.” The organization's mantra is that underage drinking is an adult problem - that adults must somehow be involved when drinks get into the hands of teens. “It's our responsibility as adults to find a way to prevent this epidemic of alcohol from continuing,” said Tangney, who said she was troubled most by another statistic: 50 percent of teens who drink do so with the knowledge and consent of adults.
Nadine Watts, the mother of a 17-year-old boy in Long Beach, said she was impressed with the coalition's presentation. “I think they're kind of putting the onus back on the parents, which is, I think, a good thing,” Watts said. “But I just don't know how they are going to make all these parents aware. Long Beach is a small community, and there's a million bars and places that are selling alcohol, and kids can get it anywhere.”
One high school senior, who preferred to remain anonymous, said she was ordered to attend Monday's meeting as a condition for attending the prom. “I don't have friends or know any seniors who would voluntarily come to this meeting,” she said. “I know people who go to town meetings just to know what's going on in their town, but not specifically for this problem.”
Tangney acknowledged that the information and ideas he was imparting wouldn't necessarily persuade any of the teens who were in attendance about the dangers of drinking, or stop them from drinking., “But,” he added, “we're at least putting the issue on the table.”
Comments about this story? JKellard@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 213.
