Serve booze, serve time

A Virginia law that makes it illegal for parents to serve alcohol to minors in their homes has now been in effect for a month. The law says parents can serve their own kids, but can get locked up for serving other people’s. Though the law went into effect July 1, questions remain about how police will enforce it.
    Albemarle Police Lieutenant John Teixera says party investigations in the County haven’t changed much since the new law took effect. Officers get calls for “service”—usually a noise or parking complaint from neighbors—and police officers head out to the location to investigate. If they see young people or alcohol containers, or hear noise, they’ll knock on the door.
    “[The new law] is just another tool in the toolbox that an officer can use when they go to an underage drinking party,” Teixera says. But, he adds, police aren’t out looking for small house gatherings to bust.
    Underage drinking has been a hotbed issue in Albemarle since several teen parties led to dozens of tickets for young drinkers and the May death of 17-year-old Albemarle High School lacrosse player Nolan Jenkins.
    In another incident, two Albemarle parents were not charged for a May after-prom party where alcohol was consumed, because police determined that they had tried to prevent teens from drinking, and poured out alcohol when they found it.
    But two other parents received harsh sentences in 2003 after hosting a drinking party for their 16-year-old. Elisa and George Robinson of Albemarle were first sentenced, in juvenile and domestic relations court, to eight years in prison (the sentence was later reduced to two years). Elisa Robinson is said to have misled other parents about the alcohol at the party, and told kids to gargle with vinegar to disguise that they’d been drinking. The Robinsons, now separated, are appealing their case, contending that the officer who broke up the party searched without probable cause.
    A Washington Post Magazine article on Sunday, July 30, reported that most party busts in Fairfax County come from tip-offs from uninvited teenagers. Teixera couldn’t comment about local busts, since party tips are handled by the Emergency Call Center, not his office. Still, he says, local police probably get a fair number of similarly disgruntled calls.
    That same Post article illustrated how the teen drinking issue pits parents against other parents who may have more lax rules about alcohol. Two mothers at a Maryland party had to be separated when one, displeased that her daughter had been allowed to drink, yelled, “What kind of mother are you? What the hell is wrong with you?”