New Law Penalizes Open House Parties
Adults beware: Hosting get-togethers that serve underage drinkers will now carry a heftier criminal charge.
A new law, effective July 1, 2011, toughens penalties for adults who break open-house party laws multiple times, or for hosts of parties that result in someone getting seriously injured or killed.
Convicted party hosts will be charged with a first-degree misdemeanor instead of a second-degree offense. Penalties could include up to a year in county jail and up to a $1,000 fine. Until now, violators only served a maximum of 60 days in jail and paid up to $500 in penalties.
Making the offense a third-degree felony is a much bigger deterrent, said Corp. Joseph DeRogatis, a Palm Springs community policing officer and chairman of Palm Beach County Underage Drinking Task Force.
“It’s a great step forward. It will hopefully bring new awareness to this issue,” he said.
The task force, part of Palm Beach County Substance Awareness Coalition, has run an outreach campaign called “Those Who Host Lose the Most.” It’s bringing attention to the party hosting problem through fliers distributed at high school graduations.
In recent years, there have been many local incidents – including a fatal crash -- involving adults who hosted house parties and served alcohol to minors.
In 2009, three students died after crashing into a front-loader in Stuart, tcpalm.com reported. Before getting into the car, Nicholas Coady and Christopher Briglio, both 18, and Connor Graver, 16, were drinking at a party thrown by South Fork High baseball coach David Wayne "Bubba" Harper, 28, and Craig D. Frick, 24, the news service reported.
For hosting that party, Harper was sentenced to 60 days in jail and Frick received 20 days and five months of probation, including speaking to local schools about drinking, according to tcpalm.com.
Both sentences could have been bumped to $1,000 fines and a year in jail under the new law.
In another highly publicized case, about 500 teens were reported to be drinking at a Boca Raton mansion last October after a homecoming celebration at American Heritage School in Plantation, according to the Sun Sentinel.
The hosts, Shlomo and Jeannie Rasabi, parents of two American Heritage teens, stood on the stairwell, making sure no one came upstairs, the newspaper reported. Within 15 minutes of the students getting to the party, they were drinking, later minors were passed out and vomiting on the property.
The Rasabis were arrested on the misdemeanor charge of open house party. Six teens were charged with possessing alcohol under the age of 21.
Alcohol-related car accidents are among the leading causes of death for teens. In Palm Beach County, alcohol-related crashes reached 1,715 in 2009, up from 1,419 in 2005, the Sun Sentinel reported.
During graduation season, the rates of accidents and deaths peak and parties continue throughout the summer. With parental knowledge and vigilance, though, the risk of tragedy can be reduced.
If you are throwing a party, consider taking the following tips to help ensure the teens in your life have a fun and safe time (These are courtesy of Ferndale Patch.)
- Provide plenty of entertainment.
Providing lots of things to do and plenty of games at a party can serve to keep attendees entertained and busy. Consider trivia games, volleyball, dancing and music.
- Establish rules and expectations before hosting parties.
Talk to your children and their friends about ground rules and supervise the party area. Invite other adults to provide extra sets of eyes, ears and hands at the parties.
- Make parties invitation-only.
Open parties without invitation lists can cause problems because anyone can attend.
- Do not allow teens to come and go at parties.
Teens that leave should not be allowed back into a party. And if they say they need to “get something” from the car, go with them.
- Consider alcohol-free parties, even for adults.
Illegal drinking is less likely to happen if there is no supply.
If you have alcohol in your home, put it away in a secure location where it is not visible and is not accessible to guests. (That goes for over-the-counter and prescription medicines, too).
- If there is alcohol at parties, monitor it.
If you do plan to serve alcohol to legal-age guests, it needs to be monitored appropriately. Consider appointing an adult to watch over the alcohol.
- Watch for signs of drug use.
Besides alcohol, be on the lookout for not only marijuana but also synthetic marijuana or prescription drug abuse
- End parties at a reasonable time.
The later the events go, the more likely it is that problems could occur.
The Palm Beach County Substance Awareness Coalition is committed to keeping our youth safe and drug and alcohol free. For more information, please visit our web site at www.PBCSAC.org
This article written by: Leon Fooksman. He can be reached at fooksman17@gmail.com.
