Dailyrecord.com - Towns get tough on underage drinkers
8/24/2011
More It happens all the time, in every community, in every state. New Jersey’s no exception. The police get called to a loud house party and discover most, if not all, of the people attending are drinking alcohol well before their 21st birthdays. The dirty little secret is police are powerless when it comes to doling out summonses to whichever 16- or 17-year-old kid they find boozing — that’s because the children are on private property. Police departments across the state are taking steps to change this. Kinnelon is one example where police have asked the borough council to consider an ordinance that would prohibit the possession and consumption of alcohol by underage persons on private property. In Morris County, 21 out of 39 municipalities have enacted measures prohibiting those under 21 from consuming alcohol on private property. Somerset County has initiated an effort to get all of its 21 municipalities to adopt the ordinance (to date, nine have done so). Middlesex Borough in Middlesex County has adopted the ordinance, making it the 17th out of 25 municipalities there to do so. A survey updated in 2009 conducted by the Partnership for a Drug Free New Jersey shows that of the 454 municipalities responding, only 305 have enacted local ordinances and 149 indicated that they have not yet passed such a local ordinance. New Jersey has 566 municipalities. While the Kinnelon ordinance makes exceptions to underage drinking for religious observations, as well as parents giving consent to their specific child to drink, it would fine underage drinkers $250 for a first-time offense, and $350 for a second offense. A judge also would have leeway to impose punishment in the form of suspending or postponing the obtainment of a child’s driver’s license for “egregious circumstances” of underage drinking. “In my experience, in my 21 years as a police officer, kids don’t drink to be social — they drink to get drunk,” said police Lt. John Schwartz, who added the ordinance likely will be discussed during a public meeting in September.