Friday, May 06, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

ALCOHOL AND MINORS: Drinking bill meets skepticism

Punishment of parents stirs doubts

CARSON CITY -- An Assembly panel Thursday picked apart a Senate-passed bill that would make parents criminally liable and subject to fines of $5,000 if they knowingly furnished or allowed minors to drink alcoholic beverages.

Assembly Judiciary Chairman Bernie Anderson, D-Sparks, said it is considered bad manners in some ethnic neighborhoods not to accept a glass of wine offered with dinner.

Assemblywoman Susan Gerhardt, D-Henderson, said she asks the ages of her adult son's friends before offering them a beer. If they lie about their ages and later are involved in accidents, Gerhardt wondered, would she be liable?

"What if you are invited to a rehearsal dinner for a wedding and the family provides alcohol as part of the celebration?" Anderson asked.

Anderson, a retired high school teacher, said he has been around teenagers for more than 30 years and often hears parents say they would rather their children drank at home than somewhere else.

Sen. Valerie Wiener, D-Las Vegas, said Senate Bill 337 did not have the purpose of punishing parents who give alcohol at a family dinner or a religious service. She said the penalties would not apply unless damage resulted from allowing minors to drink alcohol.

The bill was approved 19-1 in the Senate.

She introduced her bill because of a November 2003 car accident in Henderson in which three teenage boys died. The car was driven by a 16-year-old friend, Sean Larimer.

Larimer had been drinking at the home of Bob Roman, whose teenager daughter was having a sleepover with her girlfriends. He denied any knowledge of a drinking party and said no alcohol was in his home. But his insurance company paid $300,000 to the victims' families.

Wiener said a state study found that a third of teenagers get alcoholic beverages at home.

"I don't want to exclude something that is part of a family tradition," Wiener said. "But I don't want to see parents pumping bourbon into their kids."

Bill Bradley, lobbyist for the Nevada Trial Lawyers Association, said he thought Gerhardt was doing the right thing by asking the age of her sons' friends but said committee members must define what they mean by "knowingly" providing drinks to minors.

"This (bill) is intended to deal with irresponsible parents who allow drinking to occur in their homes," he said. "We all remember certain homes in high school where parents allowed drinking, and you went there to get drunk."

Erin Breen, director of the Safe Community Partnership in Las Vegas, expressed concern about the bill's fate.

"It concerns me to hear all these questions," said Breen, who contended the bill would not affect responsible parents.

"Irresponsible parents are a problem I have dealt with for over 30 years," Anderson replied. "Bad behavior by some individuals cannot be changed because of a piece of paper."