Death Spurs Hard Look at Teen Drinking in La Canada

La Canada Flintridge, noted for its affluence and good schools, has gained recognition for something else lately: adolescent drinking.

Concern is at an all-time high because of the alcohol-related death May 31 of a 17-year-old resident who fell from a balcony after attending a large party and the arrest of another teen-ager for supplying liquor to minors at that party.

In response, the hillside community has banned pay-for-admission parties and is studying the idea of a disco or clubhouse where teen-agers could gather but where alcohol would not be served.

City officials have also asked the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department to crack down on teen-age drinking. So far, two minors and one liquor store clerk have been cited for violations in incidents unrelated to the May 31 death.

Some residents of La Canada Flintridge, where the median yearly income of $38,000 is well over twice the Los Angeles County average, say teen-age drinking is no more prevalent in their city than in any other. Others say a custom of large unsupervised teen-age parties has arisen in an otherwise quiet community.

“This is a conservative, upper-middle-class school district,” said Voytek Dolinski, an assistant principal who has been at La Canada High School 21 years. “We have almost no minorities. It’s very suburban, Anglo and predominantly Republican. The kids get fantastically high grades and dress beautifully.”

As to teen-age drinking, “I’m sure the affluence of the community contributes to it, the availability of nice homes and families not always at home,” Dolinski says.

The role of parents is drawing increased attention.

“There are a lot of parents that aren’t assuming responsibility by leaving town or by letting their kids drink in front of them,” says Jan Krall, former president of Parent Alert, a local group that has for three years worked to educate families and teen-agers about the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse.

City Manager Don Otterman says that, for at least five years, teen-agers have played host to large pay-for-admission keg parties that draw as many as 500 young party goers. In the past, sheriff’s deputies often broke up the parties when neighbors complained about noise, and intoxicated teen-agers occasionally were arrested, said Capt. John Biard of the Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station.

But it wasn’t until late May that the concern of parents, teen-agers and community leaders coalesced, after Joseph Miller Lutz, a junior at La Canada High School, fell to his death after a large pay-for-admission party given by Simon D’Arcy, 18, a senior at La Canada at the time.

Fall off Balcony

Sheriff’s investigators surmise that Lutz, who spent the night at the D’Arcy home after the party broke up, was killed when he fell out of the second-floor balcony. The actual circumstances of the death have not been determined. However, police have ruled out homicide.

Lutz’s death stunned La Canada High School. Caroline Tiffany, a friend and classmate of Lutz, recalls that “half the school was walking around like zombies” the following day. “Joe wasn’t a druggie or an alcoholic. It could have happened to anyone,” she said.

While the community waited for a coroner’s report, the City Council passed an emergency law similar to that of Los Angeles County, which outlaws parties at which admission is charged. The law has met with disapproval from some parents and teen-agers, who say youths need a place to gather.

The Sheriff’s Department began surveillance of retail stores suspected of selling alcohol to minors, and deputies began paying visits to prospective party hosts to warn them that underage-drinking laws would be strictly enforced.

The tragedy also drew teen-agers and parents to special hearings held by the Public Safety Commission. Several youths suggested the need for alternate social activities. This week, the City Council agreed to appoint a committee of civic officials, youth group members and church officials to study the feasibility of a clubhouse for teen-agers. The city also plans to publicize the names of minors, store clerks and retail outlets cited for violation of underage-drinking laws.

The community eventually learned from the Los Angeles County coroner’s office that Lutz died of head injuries. A coroner’s spokesman said that, at the time of his death, Lutz’s blood alcohol level exceeded .10, which made him “under the influence” by state law.

Meanwhile, D’Arcy, the host of the party at which Lutz died, was charged by the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office with providing alcohol to minors, a misdemeanor. Officials say the arrest was made at the request of the Sheriff’s Department. D’Arcy is scheduled for arraignment in Glendale Municipal Court on July 22 and faces a maximum penalty of six months in jail and a $500 fine, the district attorney’s office said.

La Canada Flintridge Mayor O. Warren Hillgren said the arrest was a clear sign that the city is cracking down on drinking by teen-agers.

Seen as Acceptable

D’Arcy and his father, Simon D’Arcy, have steadfastly declined to discuss the accident with The Times, as has the Lutz family. But local leaders and some parents were willing to talk. Their biggest hurdle, they said, is that drinking is perceived as a socially acceptable pursuit in La Canada Flintridge.

“Parents let kids drink in front of them. . . . We have athletes that drink, students leaders that drink. It’s just a very OK thing to do,” said Krall of Parent Alert.

And teen-agers talked about the difficulty of resisting peer pressure.

“It’s pretty much of a status symbol if you can drink a lot,” said Terence McKiernan, an 18-year-old La Canada Flintridge resident.

McKiernan, who graduated from La Canada High School last year and now attends USC, says he started drinking at 13 and would drink “on weekdays, weeknights . . . until I’d pass out.” He quit this year because the blackouts scared him, he says.

These days, he still attends parties, but holds a beer in his hand as a prop. The reason: “If a person doesn’t feel like drinking . . . people harass them and make them,” McKiernan says.

Reid Kopel, a family-and-child counselor at Glendale Family Services Assn., says that the teen-agers today, in keeping with a nationwide return to conservative values, view liquor as more benign than drugs. About half his patients live in the La Canada Flintridge area, he says.

The National Council on Alcoholism estimates that there are 3.3 million problem drinkers nationwide between the ages of 14 and 17. Of all teen-agers, 15% drink heavily, the council reports, and 67% drink moderately.

City Manager Otterman says that local parties are often given by youngsters whose parents are out of town. (D’Arcy’s father was in San Francisco at the time of his son’s party, but had apparently given permission for it, according to court documents.) Typically, says Otterman, several teen-agers will act as hosts to the party, charge admission and pocket the proceeds.

Profitable Venture

One teen-ager who declined to be quoted by name boasts: “I’ve had 350 people at my house. After you pay off the kegs and bouncers, the person who throws the party can make a couple hundred bucks.”

Or more. Sheriff’s detectives who investigated the Lutz death confiscated a rubber stamp, an ink pad and almost $1,150 in cash from admission fees at the D’Arcy home. According to court documents, one witness told investigators that D’Arcy charged $2 admission for high school seniors and adults, $3 general admission, $4 for freshmen and $10 for non-drinkers.

D’Arcy told investigators he charged $2 and $3 admission.

That night, sheriff’s deputies paid three visits to the youth’s home on Lavender Lane after neighbors complained about loud music. They arrested at least one intoxicated youth who was wandering around outside and admonished the hosts not to serve alcohol to minors, according to court documents. But the same documents stated that most of the 500 party goers were 16 to 18 years old, and thus below the legal drinking age of 21.

Teen-agers criticize sheriff’s deputies who break up large parties because, they say, it causes many adolescents who have been drinking to drive home.

“Obviously we can’t arrest everyone, especially with 200 attending,” Biard says. He estimates that 10 to 12 teen-agers have been arrested for public drunkenness in the past month and a half.

Some teen-agers have worked out their own form of preventing drunk driving. After a friend wrapped his car around a tree and didn’t even remember getting into the car, McKiernan and some buddies decided to enforce designated drivers: people who agree to remain sober and drive the others home after parties.

Many teen-agers contend that their parties are quiet affairs that have been blown out of proportion by city officials.

“Trashing houses and drunk driving are considered highly negative in La Canada Flintridge,” said Trenton Johnson, a teen-ager.

Skepticism Voiced

And there is debate over whether opening a clubhouse is the solution.

Some parents and teen-agers said they think youngsters would sneak liquor into a club or attend drunk. Others say there’s not enough local interest.

Skip Baker, a pediatrician who lives and works in La Canada Flintridge, said he supports the idea of a supervised storefront where alcohol would not be served. Nevertheless, he said, “You’re not going to get teen-agers to stop drinking. You have to teach kids to take responsiblity for their behavior.”

Baker, the father of a teen-age boy, said he became concerned with alcohol and drug abuse when he started seeing younger children--seventh- and eighth-graders--with heavy abuse problems.

Meanwhile, since D’Arcy’s arrest, the Sheriff’s Department reported that there have been no large or unruly teen-age parties in La Canada Flintridge and no further arrests for public intoxication.