‘By Show of Hands, Who’s Been Drinking Tonight?’
God bless the Highland Park Department of Public Safety. While the Dallas and University Park police departments fill out convoluted forms that we have to decipher when compiling our crime blotters, the Highland Park cops write a narrative about almost every incident. Here’s the most entertaining one from this week’s batch.
Just after 1 a.m. Sunday, the DPS received a call about people arguing in the 4600 block of North Versailles Avenue. When officers arrived, they saw several teenagers run toward a particular house’s side yard. But they were able to detain two of them in the front yard.
Both smelled of alcohol, but they insisted they hadn’t been drinking. One of them identified herself as a resident of the house in question. She said she and some other partygoers had gone outside to try to prevent a friend of theirs from driving drunk. They said this friend had taken a swing at someone at the party. Moments later, a truck drove by, and both teens said it belonged to the friend who they’d been trying to stop. One of the officers pursued the truck, while the other stuck around to sort out the party.
That officer asked a dispatcher to call the homeowners and ask them to step outside. The parents of the hostess said they knew their daughter had some friends over, but they didn’t know about any fight, nor were they aware of any underage drinking. The officer asked the adults to have all of the teenagers come outside.
Soon, this officer was addressing the 17-year-old hostess, three other 17-year-olds, and 11 18-year-olds. He asked them if anyone had been drinking, and he warned them that a test would determine whether each of them had been drinking before they would be released to their parents. All of them slowly raised their hands. “Because all guests were admitting to consuming alcohol at the party, I determined that additional testing was unnecessary,” the officer wrote. “As each guest spoke to me, I confirmed the presence of the smell of alcohol on their breath.” Each teen was issued a “consumption by minor” citation, except for the hostess, because her parents were in the home when she drank. But her mother received a “fail to supervise a child (alcohol)” citation.
Meanwhile, the other officer pulled over the aforementioned truck just around the corner, in the 4900 block of Westside Drive. The 18-year-old driver “was unsteady in his walk, swaying while he was standing, his eyes were blood shot, and his speech was slurred,” according to the incident report. As if all of that and the “strong odor of alcohol” on his breath weren’t incriminating enough, the officer found a can of Keystone Light and a bottle of Jack Daniel’s in the front seat. The teen was charged with minor DUI and minor in possession of alcohol. He was then released to his father, who drove to the scene after being contacted by the DPS. Betcha that ride home was real fun.
18 comments to "'By Show of Hands, Who's Been Drinking Tonight?'"
Here’s a great tidbit I forgot to mention. The report lists two victims:
1. Town of Highland Park
2. Society
Indeed.
Maybe the drinking age should be 18 again. Raising it to 21 doesn’t seem to have worked. Perhaps there would be fewer teen drunks if their drinking didn’t have to be hidden from adults. Who knows.
@BTW. I’m still wondering how HPHS will follow through on its Extracurricular Code of Conduct re: drinking & baseball.
Maybe the drinking age should be 18 again. Raising it to 21 doesn’t seem to have worked. Perhaps there would be fewer teen drunks if their drinking didn’t have to be hidden from adults. Who knows.
Read more: ‘By Show of Hands, Who’s Been Drinking Tonight?’ | Park Cities People http://www.parkcitiespeople.com/2013/02/05/by-show-of-hands/#ixzz2KArxKUPP
Back in my day, the drinking age was 18 and I think it still should be since an 18 year old can serve their country in whatever war the politicians think we should participate in. They are also responsible for their actions legally without parental consent once they turn the magical age of 18 even if they do stupid things.
The mom that was charged in this case could have been more alert. A teenager got out of control at her home and she/he were responsible for the party. A drunk teen left their house and created enough commotion that the police got involved and the kid was charged with a DWI.
I am not posting to ruin kids lives and realize kids do stupid things regardless of who their parents are or where they live.
My original post related to the private school that these kids attend and that the incident will be glossed over and no one will be punished even though it violates school policy. Additionally, an administrators kid was involved and cited.
If kids don’t realize there are significant consequences for their actions they will continue to push the envelop and wait for mom and dad to bail them out. If they need to miss basketball/baseball/soccer/cheerleading etc. the school needs to stand by their principles to send a message that they don’t tolerate this (violation of code of conduct) behavior and stand by the school code of conduct.
It should not matter if it is a big donors kid or an administrators kid – actions have consequences.
I’ll get off my soapbox and let someone else chime in.
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