Re: Our youth: was Old Topic...Re-Discovered - The Punchline

["John and Laurie Danahy" <JDANAHY@turbonet.com>]

I applaud the efforts of the MHS PAT in informing parents and students of
the hazards that abound at the "senior kegger".  I also feel the school
district has done a good job of sending out the same message through its
DARE program.  The drug and alcohol abuse policy that school district
athletes sign, up until now, has been an honesty based policy that relied
on parent and student cooperation.  The new policy will mean harsher
penalties and less cooperation.  The UI has finally cracked down on its
underage drinking problem, both on Greek row and in the dorms. 
Unfortunately, there are too many parents who feel teen drinking is some
sort of rite of passage and they actively enable these weekend parties to
happen.  We, as a community, must begin to require answers to the questions
of who supplied the drugs and alcohol.  Our police force must be required
to uphold the law, even to the letter of the law.  We should change local
ordinances to make adults, parents or suppliers, legally responsible for
drinking parties that happen in their homes, even when they are not around!
 Only when we, as a community, demand that things change will change
happen.

John

John and Laurie Danahy
jdanahy@turbonet.com