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DUI - Drunk Driving: Teens tapping into brewskis, hooch and juice
Posted on Wednesday, September 22 @ 11:57:42 CDT by Motor_Vehicles |
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Situations involving minors and alcohol are apt to be on the increase in the next couple of weeks, according to Marty Conboy, Omaha city prosecutor.
In a meeting last week of the Project Extra Mile Coalition, Conboy said high school homecoming and prom times are historically the times law enforcement officials are busy with minor in possession and minor alcohol consumption issues.
"Although if the weather stays nice this fall," Conboy said, "we could see an increase throughout the next few months."
The slang terms teens use for alcohol include booze, sauce, brews, brewskis, hooch, hard stuff and juice. And while the terminology hasn't changed much over the years, the intellectual level of the teens has.
Conboy said kids today are more sophisticated.
"They have many unique ways of obtaining false IDs and they know the law and what is and isn't consistently enforced," Conboy said. "It's a game they play."
A large loophole in Nebraska law, Conboy said, is that it is legal for minors to consume alcohol at home.
"And they know it," he said.
The law, according to Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning's office states, " ? a minor may consume, possess, or have physical control of alcoholic liquor in his or her permanent place of residence ?"
Conboy said it is not uncommon for law enforcement officials to find teens in area parks who are obviously under the influence of alcohol and who try to defend themselves by saying they consumed the alcohol at home.
"But as soon as law enforcement officials say they will make a phone call and follow-up with their parents, the kids get scared and change their story."
And while a call to parents might alarm some teens, others know mom and dad will cover for them.
In a recent survey done by a group of teens in Douglas County, the results might be surprising. The survey showed teens were at times disillusioned to realize that their drinking habits were not getting a rise from their parents, and that more often than not, their parents chose to ?look the other way.?
"Basically what we learned from the survey is that the behavior of the students won't change until the behavior of parents changes," said Annette Eyman, communications director for the Papillion-La Vista School District.
Gary Brollier, an attorney with the Sarpy County Attorney's Office, said Sarpy County law enforcement officials are on the lookout year-round for minors in possession or minors consuming alcohol.
"It's a misconception that there are more parties during the summer months," Brollier said. "We see a marked increase during the school year. The kids see each other more often and can plan better."
The house (or apartment) party is the location of choice for most teen parties, Brollier said. And while the frequency of finding an older sibling or friend, over 21, to buy alcohol for the party is decreasing, what is happening, Brollier said, is that someone over 21, oftentimes older friends are buying the alcohol and staying to join the party.
"And, if they don't find someone to buy it," he said, "the kids steal it from their parents."
Marilyn Keelan of the Nebraska Crime Commission said, in 2003, 21 individuals in Papillion, ages 17 and under, and 14 individuals, ages 18-21, were cited for minor in possession of alcohol, while in La Vista 12 individuals, ages 17 and under were cited, in addition to 28 individuals between the ages of 18 and 21. In Bellevue, a total of 121 individuals were cited.
The costs of teen drinking can be measured in a multitude of ways. According to the National Health Museum in Washington, D.C., in 2002 underage drinking cost the nation an estimated $53 billion annually in losses stemming from traffic fatalities, violent crime, and other behaviors that threaten the well-being of America's youth. Brollier said he learned at a recent conference that the annual cost for underage drinking has jumped to $63 billion.
Those costs can be attributed to various crimes, traumatic injury, suicide, fetal alcohol syndrome, alcohol poisonings, alcohol dependence, and alcohol abuse requiring treatment. Other attributes include present and future work losses, property damage, criminal justice costs, and quality of life losses.
Driver record statistics from the Nebraska Department of Motor Vehicles reports that in 2003 Sarpy County judges handed down 52 DUI (driving under the influence) convictions to drivers ages 16-20, more than twice the number from just four years prior.
According to the Nebraska Highway Safety Division, in 2002 teen drivers were involved in 22 percent of all crashes where alcohol involvement was a factor. In general, alcohol-related crashes account for an estimated 17 percent of Nebraska's auto insurance payments. Mike Hokanson of La Vista, an agent with Farmers Insurance, said a teenager can expect to pay more than triple the amount for insurance coverage after receiving a DUI.
"Let's say that now they're paying $700 to $800 every six months for liability coverage," Hokanson said, "they can expect that premium to jump to $2,500 to $2,800 every six months with a DUI on their record."
And more than just an expense for the teen, a DUI and/or other driving violations on a teens record can have implications for the whole family.
"Once one person in the household reaches a certain number of points, it can affect the rates of everyone in the household," Hokanson said.
Hokanson said having a teen in the household who has a poor driving record is often a concern, both emotionally and financially, for parents. He said financially it can be draining to parents even if they take the teen's car away.
"Even if the car is gone, they still have a licensed driver in the house and have to carry insurance coverage for him," Hokanson said. "About the only thing they can do is physically take the teens driver's license from him and surrender it to the Department of Motor Vehicles."
Insurance reports show that reducing alcohol-related crashes by 10 percent would save $13 million in claims payments and loss adjustment expenses.
Sarpy County is the only Nebraska County, according to Simera Reynolds, state executive director of Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD), to send DUI first offenders through a diversion program rather than a put them through the court system.
"In the other 92 counties a DUI shows up on their record," Reynolds said. "But in Sarpy County, it seems in a weird way, they are creating a special class."
Reynolds said by utilizing a diversion program, a first-time DUI is treated as a minor offense in Sarpy County.
"I don't think drinking and driving is a minor traffic infraction," she said.
Diane Ribbe, director of Project Extra Mile, said she recalls in the mid-1980s, a time when only Sarpy and Dodge counties had existing diversion programs, and so followed a different course with DUIs.
"But that was almost 20 years ago," Ribbe said. "And now Sarpy is the only county still doing this."
Sarpy County Attorney Lee Polikov, said the county's diversion program is "anything but an easy way out."
"It's a very intense, very detailed program," Polikov said, "and to be quite honest, every county should have it."
Polikov said in the late 1980s it became politically correct to come down harder with harsh penalties for drinking and driving, and not look into alternatives to incarceration. Rather than cave into the mainstream way of thinking, Polikov said Sarpy County continued building its diversion program and today reports that its very successful. In fact, Polikov said, a recent independent study reiterates the diversion program's success and suggests the county make it one of its "highest priorities to expand on its diversion program."
While around the state, county and city, the problem of underage drinking is a concern, - at school, most often teens are not ostracized by their peers after receiving a DUI, said Andrew Hellbusch, a 17-year-old senior at Papillion-La Vista South High School.
"No one really cares," he said.
The school district administration looks upon an MIP very seriously though, Eyman said.
"Particularly the kids involved in sports," she said. "They are held to a higher standard."
Eyman said, according to the school code of conduct, if the MIP or other alcohol-related offense did not happen on school grounds, and if the student is not involved in extracurricular activities, there are no repercussions from the school.
On the other hand, if the student is involved in an extracurricular activity, and is cited for a first offense, he or she is suspended for two weeks from the activity or athletic event. With a second offense, the student is suspended from all activities/athletics for the remainder of the semester or the activity/athletic season, whichever is longer. A third offense results in the student's suspension from activities/athletics for the remainder of the school year. The code also states that a student who commits a violation related to the use or possession of alcohol (or drugs) will be required to meet with a drug/alcohol counselor.
Eyman said most alcohol-related offenses would not result in a school suspension.
"As long it's not a school-related offense," she said, "they won't be suspended from school. We don't want to penalize them academically."
Teens are not the only minors under the watchful eye of law in Sarpy County, said Gary Brollier, addressing Project Extra Mile coalition.
"In Sarpy County, our trends are leaning toward even younger drinkers, as young as 11 years old and also an increase in the amount of alcohol being consumed. They're drinking younger and drinking more," Brollier said.
"It's no big deal" to kids who receive an MIP, Conboy said.
"They shrug it off and say, 'My dad paid the $75 fine,'" he said.
To combat this alarming trend, Brollier said stiffer penalties need to be implemented, as well as more creative penalties and increased preventative education.
"Many parents have no tolerance for drug use among their kids, but they will allow alcohol," Brollier said. And so kids aren't seeing drinking as being unacceptable," Brollier said. "We need to do whatever we can to bring it to the unacceptable level."
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