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City proposal targets teen drinking
Published Saturday, October 18, 2008
Fergus Falls aldermen are considering an ordinance intended to discourage underage drinking on private property.
Known as a social host ordinance, the measure holds an adult criminally responsible for hosting a gathering where underage alcohol possession or consumption occurs. While the proposed ordinance would still allow parents to determine whether or not their children drink at home, adults who allow other teens to drink on their property would face misdemeanor charges.
The ordinance is part of a larger effort by local law enforcement and court officials to identify adults who knowingly provide alcohol to minors, or in the case of the ordinance, provide teens with a place to drink.
Spurring the project is a $5,000 Zero Adult Provider (ZAP) grant from the Minnesota Institute of Public Health, obtained by the county’s Safe Communities Coalition (SCC) and the Otter Tail County Family Services Collaborative in July. The money will be used primarily to fund overtime for officers investigating alcohol provision, said Jane Patrick, SCC coordinator. The entire effort, she said, represents a “systematic change” in the way the county addresses underage drinking.
Law enforcement say grant dollars have already been at work. Some of the Fergus Falls police officers who issued 30 citations to underage drinkers at a party Sept. 26 were working overtime on grant funds.
“It just gives us a little bit more money to invest time and resources,” said Chief of Public Safety Tim Brennan.
A number of other Minnesota cities have already implemented social host ordinances, beginning with Chaska in September 2007. Red Wing followed a month later.
Red Wing Police Chief Tim Sletten says the city acted on the ordinance as part of an on-going effort to combat underage drinking and find those who provide alcohol to minors.
“I think it’s been a positive for letting people know what our community is going to tolerate,” he said.
Before its passage, the ordinance prompted some concern from Red Wing council members who worried parents would be punished for parties they knew nothing about. For its part, the police department agreed officers would not write citations at the scene of a party bust. Instead, Sletten said, underage consumption cases go to the Good County Attorney’s Office for review before any tickets are issued.
The Fergus Falls ordinance is modeled after the Red Wing version, Brennan said, and the money from the ZAP grant will ensure officers have enough time to investigate underage consumption cases before citing parents.
The social host ordinance does not apply to religious observances, or to situations in which underage people are lawfully in possession of alcohol or alcoholic beverages during their employment.
Fergus Falls’ social host ordinance was first introduced at a meeting of the Public Works and Safety Committee Thursday, and will be up for further discussion at another committee meeting Oct. 30.
Comments
The Daily Journal is happy to host community conversations about news and life in Fergus Falls and the surrounding area. As hosts, we expect guests will show respect for each other. That means we don't threaten or defame each other, and we keep conversations free of personal attacks. Witty is great. Abusive is not. If you think a post violates these standards, don't escalate the situation. Instead, flag the comment to alert us. We'll take action if necessary. It's not hard. This should be a place where people want to read and contribute -- a place for spirited exchanges of opinion. So those who persist with racist, defamatory or abusive postings risk losing the privilege to post at all.Posted by melindakay (anonymous) on October 18, 2008 at 10:28 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Perhaps the police would like to bust the underage drinkers hanging out by American Federal bank every night. I'm pretty sure the law already calls for that.
Posted by metasonics (anonymous) on October 18, 2008 at 2:52 p.m. (Suggest removal)
redundant crap!
Posted by Norse (anonymous) on October 18, 2008 at 5:30 p.m. (Suggest removal)
says the pot to the kettle.
Posted by buzzman55 (anonymous) on October 19, 2008 at 12:28 a.m. (Suggest removal)
While your'e at it let's just ban teenagers from being outside anywhere in the public unless accompanied or supervised by an adult or a school related activity.
Posted by Flashbang (anonymous) on October 19, 2008 at 12:40 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Is Fergus Falls as bad as I have read in past posts including this one? It's been awhile since I've lived there and it seems that everytime a story of interest is posted, it will be followed by numerous posts suggesting the city and/or leadership is going south, and this would include businesses.
I remember a good city with small town problems that were worked through, but I guess the internet and now posting on this website have changed things and more opinions are brought public. But is Fergus really a bad place to live today?
Posted by Ole_Potato (anonymous) on October 19, 2008 at 10:11 a.m. (Suggest removal)
No Flashbang, Fergus Falls is not such a bad place as you would read about here. There are many shut-in closed minded people who post rants in these forums based on simple misconceptions or extrapolations of perceived infringing change.
Fergus Falls DOES offer many opportunities for our youth to participate. There are many thriving young people involved in wholesome activities throughout the community.
There are also still many young people who choose to not be involved with the wholesome side of life. They choose to become vandals, sex-offenders, drug-addicts, alcoholics, drug dealers, and your average everyday delinquents. All a person has to do is read the 'record' and take a look through the County Jail website to see what is going on with some. It is no surprise that we see multiple generations of particular families involved with the same violations or perhaps even mutations of the same.
Enough about all of that, and back to the fine examples we have with Baseball/Softball, Football, Soccer, Basketball, Band, and Academics in Fergus Falls. Plus this area of the state/country has some of the best fishing, hunting, and recreation for ALL of us to enjoy. Take some time to smell the roses people.
To those who would disagree with strengthening the position against contributing to the delinquency of minors, I would say its time to wake up to the big world around you. How could you change your portion of our community if you didn't host a party where minors had access to alcohol, cocaine, meth, marijuana, speed, and all your other recreational pharmacuticals? It's time to end the continued transfer of these anti-community activities and start building a better world for yourselves in your own area of influence.
Posted by BaddaBing (anonymous) on October 19, 2008 at 11:43 a.m. (Suggest removal)
You forgot to mention the thieves, Ole_Potato. The level of burglaries and stealing in this town is terrible. And before anyone starts blaming the economy, let me say this; most of us are in the same boat, it's just that most of us don't steal.
Posted by BaddaBing (anonymous) on October 19, 2008 at 12:02 p.m. (Suggest removal)
But back to the subject of parents being responsible for their under-age kids. Parents can't patrol their kids 24/7 once the kids reach a certain age. Mine couldn't. And why would parents want to be up in their childrens business all the time? Talk about overkill control. At the same time, why would kids want to be partying anywhere near their parents in the first place!?! My mother standing there would definitely be a buzz kill. So, in my opinion, if the kids are drinking anywhere on the property, their parents probably know it. If not, the kids have perfected the art of sneakiness.
Posted by Sumwun (anonymous) on October 19, 2008 at 1:39 p.m. (Suggest removal)
You have to be a little slow to have a big party anywhere in town. With as many bored, window watching, drama seekers we have in this town looking for any reason they can to call the police, why would you try to do anything fun in town? If you have 40 cars parked along all sides of your house and people running around everywhere with beer cups in their hands...you think the cops aren't going to be called? Learn from other peoples mistakes already.
Posted by BaddaBing (anonymous) on October 19, 2008 at 6:12 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Whatever happened to gravel roads and sand pits?
People are going to do what they do. As a parent, the buck stops here.
Posted by duchess (anonymous) on October 19, 2008 at 11:25 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I agree the police should be patroling the Am Fed Bank parking ramp instead of busting up parties on private property. That place is a garbage pit and basically an unsupervised hangout where criminal activity is allowed to happen every day without consequences. They don't need to look quite this hard if they want to discourage underage drinking. PARENTS: IF YOUR KIDS ARE HANGING OUT THERE, THEY AREN'T JUST SKATEBOARDING.
Posted by Summerfest09 (anonymous) on October 20, 2008 at 9:58 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I think it is a great idea for the police to monitor the CITY PARKING LOT below American Federal Bank. It should be noted that this is a city parking lot and complaints should be made to the city.
Posted by FFSSG (anonymous) on October 20, 2008 at 11:06 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I know for a fact that those kids are up to no good down at american federal. The little punks are down there all day long off and on and bother honest people who park there.
Posted by fergusfallsmom (anonymous) on October 20, 2008 at 11:43 a.m. (Suggest removal)
This past summer we were walking along the river walk and my 4 year old daughter saw the kids hanging out by the River Inn. She asked me what they were doing and I told her the truth... wasting time. She looked at them and said, "You should get a job!"
If a 4 year old gets it... what is wrong with everyone else??
Posted by alpha (anonymous) on October 20, 2008 at 12:07 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I agree with the article completely. Parents who keep alcohol in their homes where their kids can access it are asking for trouble.
There is not enough for kids to do in this town so they are going to make their own fun. Sure there's sports but if you're not athletic or into the arts and don't like sports you're outta luck. The city has taken away almost all fun,helathy family oriented fun things to do on friday nights in this town. They took away the roller skating rink,we don't have waterparks like other towns do and our mall is a hole. The only thing left to do is rent a movie or go to a movie. The city needs to get creative and start thinking of things for kids to do in place of drinking. While parents do need to be more responsible in keeping any liquor locked up they can only do so much to provide something fun for their kids to do and that's where the city comes in. Law enforcement needs to do more about enforcing laws around here, I see more cops driving around 'patrolling'or sitting at holiday drinking coffee during the day than preventing trouble.
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