This article appeared in the Wichita Eagle on March 31, 2009
BY SUZANNE PEREZ TOBIAS AND ROY WENZL:
Listen up, parents: If you think those kids whooping it up in your basement or garage might be drinking, you’d better find out and then break up the bash.
Pleading ignorance is no longer an option.
Starting July 1, adults who allow minors to drink in their homes — either by providing booze or turning a blind eye to drinking — could face legal prosecution and fines of $1,000 or more.
“It’s great news, and it’s about time,” said Pam McLucas, an alcohol and drug counselor at the Wichita Children’s Home.
“If parents know they’re going to be in trouble, maybe those boundaries will get set up pretty quickly.”
The new law, passed by the Kansas Legislature this spring, says adults can be held responsible if they “recklessly” allow minors to consume alcohol in their homes or on their property.
Current law holds parents responsible only when police can show they “knowingly” allowed minors to drink.
The new law will be easier to enforce, said Capt. George Mason, spokesman for the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office.
Officers regularly encounter parties where minors are drinking or drunk and parents appear to be “either clueless or deliberately vague about their knowledge” of it, he said.
‘A serious matter’
State Rep. Joe Patton, R-Topeka, who proposed the new law, said its purpose is not to prosecute innocent or merely negligent parents.
“It’s not aimed at the parents whose teenager raids the liquor cabinet or throws a huge party when they’re not home,” Patton said.
“It’s really about the parents who literally sponsor these parties, help carry the kegs into the house, illegally provide liquor… and then pretend later they didn’t know what was going on.”
Opponents of so-called “social hosting” laws, however, worry that parents could be prosecuted even when they are not involved in providing alcohol.
For example, if you have beer in your fridge and your child gives some to his friends while you’re away, could you be subject to criminal charges?
Possibly, said Melissa Johnson of the Seward County Attorney’s Office in Liberal, who filed a letter opposing the new law.
“In effect, this legislation would create a standard that all alcohol would have to be locked away to avoid potential prosecution,” Johnson wrote.
Not so, says Patton, a lawyer. In legal terms, “reckless” means the realization of imminent danger or a conscious disregard of danger.
“If the facts make it clear that any ordinary, reasonable person would know or should have known there was drinking going on and they recklessly disregarded that, then they could be held liable,” he said.
McLucas, the Children’s Home counselor, says those cases are all too common and can have tragic consequences.
“I hear from a lot of kids that their parents tell them, ‘I’d rather you drink in front of me rather than go somewhere else,’ ” she said.
“They’ll host a party and think it’s OK as long as they take everyone’s keys so they don’t drive off…. They have no idea what can happen.”
Adults may be able to drink socially and know when to stop. But “most kids don’t have that judgment or self-control,” McLucas said.
During her 15 years at the Children’s Home, she has known kids who have died or been hospitalized with alcohol poisoning. She has talked to girls who were raped and contracted sexually transmitted diseases. She’s known kids to sneak out of adult-supervised parties, drive drunk and hurt themselves or others.
“Parents need to wake up and believe that this is a serious matter,” she said.
Underage drinking survey
According to a 2008 survey by Kansas Communities that Care, underage drinking continues to be a problem among Kansas youth.
More than half of 12th-graders and more than a third of 10th-graders said they had drunk alcohol at least once in the past 30 days, the survey found.
The same survey also found that about a third of 12th-graders reported binge drinking — consuming five or more drinks in a row — during the past two weeks.
“Most of these youth gain access to alcoholic drinks from their own homes, their friends’ homes or from older friends,” said Sally Zellers, director of the Safe Streets Coalition in Topeka.
Proponents of the new law included law enforcement agencies, drug and alcohol prevention groups and parents. One was Michelle Cutrer, a Topeka mom whose 16-year-old son was arrested last summer for drinking at a friend’s home.
“I learned from my son that this home is a frequent party destination for him and his friends,” Cutrer told lawmakers in March.
“As a parent, I can instill as many safeguards as possible for my children,” she said. “But when those safeguards are being knowingly undermined by others, I need to know that there are consequences.”
Mary Lazzo, a Wichita mom who has helped plan alcohol-free prom and graduation parties at Kapaun Mount Carmel High School, said she hears kids talk about drinking parties at friends’ houses.
“And we wonder: Were the parents home? If they are home, are they in bed not paying attention?… Is any adult out there paying attention?” she asked.
Most are, said Keri Renner, spokeswoman for Kansas Family Partnership, a substance abuse prevention group. “But there’s still a huge contingent out there that thinks ‘Kids will be kids’ so you might as well just let them drink,” Renner said.
The new law, as well as nationwide educational campaigns titled “Not in My House” and “Those Who Host Lose the Most,” are intended to remind parents of their liability when hosting underage parties.
“Thirty years ago maybe you dealt with it with a wink and a nod and said ‘Boys will be boys,’ but it’s not a joke anymore,” said Patton, the legislator.
“This is a much more pervasive problem and much more serious in terms of consequences…. It’s time to deal with it as a community.”
