By Barbara Lombardo
Published:
Sunday, February 1, 2009
The Saratogian
When The Saratogian
identified all 22 of the 16- and 17-year-olds cited for being at
an underage drinking party last week, it was not a decision made
lightly.
It was news for the sheriff’s department to have busted a party
of that size. And, simply put, it was consistent with our
treatment of police reports to include the names. Plus, after
consulting with the Saratoga County district attorney,
identifying everyone involved seemed like the right thing to do.
Some of you agreed with that decision. Not everyone, that’s for
sure. The initial story and its follow-up sparked more than 300
reader responses on our Web site at
www.saratogian.com.
A response of that magnitude would not have been likely had we
merely reported “22 teens.” The intent of the newspaper was not
to embarrass or upset people, but to report the news, fairly and
consistently. Real names make a story real. And I hope this
story continues to generate discussion in families throughout
our readership.
This was an inexpensive
lesson for a bunch of kids and anyone else who cares to pay
attention. There are consequences to your actions.
A 16-year-old may do dumb things, but they understand what’s in
their school code of conduct, to know they’re not of legal
drinking age, and they know when they are somewhere they
shouldn’t be. The kids in this case were charged with about as
minor a violation as you can get. It’s likely the charges will
be dropped for good behavior. Their current lives and future
prospects are not ruined.
Just being present at a drinking party is enough to warrant the
charge of underage possession with intent to consume alcohol.
The kid doesn’t have to be holding a drink or have alcohol on
his or her breath. Fair or not, that’s the law.
I do regret that we used the word “arrest” in the story, even
though the term is technically correct and it’s the term used in
the sheriff’s department press release. “Arrest” has a more
severe connotation than being issued an appearance ticket to
show up in court.
It’s disheartening to hear from teens and adults who are
blaming the cops and the newspaper, everyone but themselves.
I’m glad the names were merely those of teens at a party — not
kids in a drunk-driving accident,
hospitalized with alcohol poisoning, or the victims or
participants of unprotected sex.
D.A. James A. Murphy provided me with information stating that
“alcohol use among teens is associated with the three most
common causes of teenage deaths: accidents and car crashes,
homicides and suicides.” Also, Murphy was kind enough to be
interviewed on videotape about underage drinking arrests, which
you can view at
www.saratogian.com
All of our kids, no matter how smart and good they are, might do
things that put themselves and others at risk. We may have done
the same things at their age. That doesn’t make it right or
smart for us as adults to ignore or condone underage drinking.
Some of the kids who wrote to the Web site said they don’t have
a problem and that everybody drinks. Well, maybe they don’t have
a problem. But “everybody does it” doesn’t wash. Parents need to
help their kids understand that.
There are so many potential adverse consequences to underage
drinking. Being embarrassed by the publication of a name may be
the least of them. But it’s a way of acknowledging that
16-year-olds are adults in the criminal justice system and
responsible for their decisions. And there’s more to it than
worrying about the law. It’s worrying about a life.
Here’s one heart-breaking contribution from the Web that might
help: “All those moms and dads who are too weak to take a
position that their kid should not drink should have to look at
my son’s autopsy pictures. He died of alcohol poisoning. He was
given alcohol at an early age by some friend of his and no one
was there to stop it. He made a bad choice. Maybe if we had been
clearer in our message to him about the dangers of underage
drinking he’d be alive today.”
Societal views toward certain behaviors change slowly. Sometimes
newspapers reflect those changes, sometimes they push them
along. It took years for drunk driving to be treated seriously,
and the printing of DWI arrests has deterred people from driving
while intoxicated. Perhaps the publication of citations for
underage drinking will have a similar effect — or, at the very
least, it will help parents do some of the heavy lifting as they
try to encourage their children to take the laws seriously, for
their own sake.
Barbara Lombardo is the managing editor of The Saratogian.
E-mail her at
blombardo@saratogian.com.
|
