Putting a Cork in Teen Parties

It was the girl’s Sweet 16, and nearly a hundred teenagers showed up for an alcohol-drenched party at her Ojai home. Deputies summoned to break up the rowdy affair ended up rushing an unconscious teenage boy to the hospital. Then they arrested the girl’s father.

But the case never made it to court because authorities couldn’t prove that the father provided the liquor, said Capt. Gary Pentis of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department. A year later, the girl threw another big bash, again with underage drinking.

“Same home, same girl, same father,” Pentis said. “Only this time he was away on vacation.”

Hoping to shut down such “party houses,” a coalition of Ventura County parents, police and public health officials is pushing for passage of local laws that would impose fines up to $1,000 on adults who repeatedly hold the gatherings.

Known as “social host” laws, they are not intended to punish the parent who provides a glass of champagne for a special occasion, or families who introduce older children to alcohol with meals, advocates say.

Rather, supporters hope they will deter those who view teenage intoxication as a harmless rite of passage. Armed with studies showing that alcohol is involved in more teen deaths than all illegal drugs combined, advocates say it is time for attitudes about underage drinking to change.

“People say ‘When I was a kid, drinking wasn’t a big deal,’ ” said Ruth Cooper, spokeswoman for an Ojai parents’ group called SAFE Coalition. “But youth are starting to drink at younger ages, they are drinking harder and faster, and they are combining alcohol with drugs. Communities need to step up to the plate and say enough is enough.”

Local governments across Southern California have begun instituting similar policies, with varying success. San Diego County and several of its cities two years ago adopted social host legislation that made it a misdemeanor for adults to hold parties at which alcohol was served to minors.

But authorities stopped enforcing the law, which called for criminal rather than civil sanctions, after a three-judge Superior Court appellate panel last year ruled it unconstitutional. In November, Ojai gave initial approval to a version that imposes civil penalties on violators, an approach that backers believe will hold up in court.

Emboldened, the Ojai parents moved next to the Ventura County Board of Supervisors. Early this month, supervisors agreed to consider a similar ordinance for the county’s unincorporated areas.

Meanwhile, Fillmore, another Ventura County city, is prepared to vote on a social host law next month. The SAFE group, along with several leading law enforcement officials and drug and alcohol experts, say their goal is to ask every city in Ventura County to do the same.

“We need to send a consistent message that this is not an acceptable practice,” said Geoff Dean, a chief deputy in the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department. “If Thousand Oaks decides to do it but Camarillo doesn’t, the kids will know and that’s where the parties will go.”

Despite generally widespread support, some doubt whether tightened laws will make much of a dent in long-tolerated behaviors.

“Alcohol is everywhere,” said Lee Gaither, 52, an Ojai resident who has a 14-year-old daughter. “There’s no stigma attached to it, and it is seen as a socially acceptable way to deal with problems. So even if they lock the parents up, you’re not going to stop it.”

Law enforcement officials acknowledge that social host laws will not end teenage drinking. Dean said that every weekend his patrol officers are called to parties full of young people at which alcohol flows freely.

Deputies typically break up the events and cite a few youths for illegal possession of alcohol, but it’s tougher to arrest an adult on the misdemeanor charge of contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile, he said.

Unless a law officer sees the adult serving alcohol, or witnesses come forward, the burden of proof is “insurmountable,” he said. Civil penalties are easier to impose.

Ventura County’s proposed law calls for fines ranging from $100 to $1,000, depending on how many times authorities are called to an illegal party. The law also permits law enforcement, after one warning, to bill the party’s host for response costs.

Landlords could also face fines, even if they were unaware that parties were taking place on their properties. Depending on which provisions supervisors approve, children who throw bashes without parents’ consent could be required to split the cost of fines or do community service.

That was an important consideration for Supervisor Judy Mikels when the ordinance was introduced to the Board of Supervisors. Mikels said she probably wouldn’t vote in favor of the law unless children who have parties while their parents are away are also held accountable.

“If a parent has done everything possible to instruct their child not to have a party and it still happens, how do you hold them responsible?” she asked.

Ventura County supervisors are expected to vote on the ordinance, possibly making amendments to it, this spring.

Board Chairwoman Kathy Long, who introduced the ordinance, said she favored the “carrot and stick” approach to enforcement.

“This hits the pocketbook of adults who look the other way or consider this a rite of passage,” Long said. “We cannot, nor should we ever, look the other way.”

Anne Davis, an Oak Park mother who had her own brush with an unplanned home party, has been speaking in support of the laws. Davis told the Board of Supervisors she had been out of town the weekend before Thanksgiving. When she returned home early, she found 400 mostly underage partygoers, drinking beer and whiskey.

Her 14-year-old daughter’s friends had planned the event without the daughter’s knowledge, Davis said. Word of it spread quickly when someone posted the date and address on Myspace.com, a website popular with young adults.

By the time deputies shooed everyone away, the house was littered with empty containers, bottles and trash, Davis said. When she finally climbed into bed that night, she made another unwelcome discovery.

“I found 15 condoms between my sheets,” she told supervisors. “This is what is happening and we need to open our eyes to it.”

By subjecting violators to civil penalties, Ventura County hopes to avoid the legal problems that the city of San Diego faced shortly after passing its social host ordinance in May 2003.

The San Diego law made it a misdemeanor to hold drinking parties, punishable by a $1,000 fine and up to six months in jail. It was challenged by a defendant cited for having a large gathering at the beach, said Deputy City Atty. Joan Dawson.

An appellate judge ruled the law unconstitutional because the city could not prove that the defendant knew there would be underage drinkers -- a necessary element in a criminal case.

San Diego has stopped enforcing its social host law for now, Dawson said, using other laws already on the books to discourage parties. The city may consider adopting the civil version later, she said.

Unincorporated areas of San Diego County have also stopped using the criminal version, said sheriff’s Sgt. Peter Astuto. Law enforcement is working with cities to adopt ordinances with the correct wording, he said.

“Parties with underage drinking are very common, especially near the colleges and beach areas,” Astuto said. “Parents are trying to be more of a friend to their kids than a parent. Nobody wants to be the bad guy at home.”

National research indicates that teenage drinking parties increase the risk of alcohol-related sexual assaults, traffic accidents and violence. Dean said local statistics show that more than half of teenage traffic collisions involve alcohol and 70% of underage sexual assaults involve a victim who had been drinking.

Binge drinking, especially among young males, is also on the rise. In a Ventura County survey done earlier this year, 62% of men 25 and younger reported drinking five or more drinks at least once in the last month; a third drank to excess three or more times.

Fillmore mother Julie Arroyo knows firsthand about the trouble that can result when youthful parties spiral out of control.

In October 2003, her son, Jacob, then 16, was shot in the eye at a gathering of football players that got out of hand. The youths were drinking beer and partying with cheerleaders at a friend’s house when a group of uninvited males arrived, Arroyo said.

The guests, suspected gang members, were turned away but came back a short time later and shot up the home, she said.

“Police later told me they found about 30 rounds on the floor,” Arroyo said. “We were really lucky no one else got hit.”

Jacob survived but lost all sight in his left eye, his mother said. A month ago, Arroyo went before the Fillmore City Council to plead for passage of a social host law.

“These are our children and we, as parents, are supposed to set an example,” she said. “You’re not setting an example by buying alcohol for your kids.”