Posted on 06/12/2007 1:37:35 PM PDT by Sleeping Beauty
WASHINGTON, - Two American parents have started a two-year prison sentence for serving 350 dollars worth of beer and other alcohol at their son's 16th birthday party, authorities said Tuesday.
The drinking age in the United States is 21, but Elisa Kelly, 42, and George Robinson, 52, decided to buy alcohol for their son Ryan's party, which was attended by about 30 people 12 and 18 years old, on August 16, 2002.
Concerned that the teenagers would drink without supervision, the parents said they had bought alcohol with the understanding that the teens would spend the night at their place and collected half a dozen car keys to prevent drunk driving.
After receiving three calls reporting possible under-aged drinking, police broke up the party near Charlottesville, Virginia, after arriving at around 11 pm and arrested Kelly and Robinson.
The parents, who have since divorced, were sentenced to four years and six months in prison -- six months for each of the nine teenagers who were found to have "measurable levels" of alcohol in their system. Half the sentence was suspended.
Robinson and Kelly, who were put in prison Monday, had appealed the sentence all the way up to the Supreme Court, which refused to hear their case on May 21.
Did the sentence for the crime?
I think they got of easy
Did the sentence fit the crime.
It seems a bit stiff to me.
If one of those kids had been killed on the way home from this little gathering, we’d have endless POOR VICTIM articles to ponder. What we need to do is stop this behavior before we are treated to the deaths and the sad-story follow-ups. Yeah, I think these very, very, very old adolescents got exactly what they deserved.
It was a bad idea, but good intentions by my estimation.
No kidding! After killing that many innocent children, they should have gotten The Chair!
I’d rather have no drinking age in this country than a drinking age of 21.
They took all the kids car keys away before the party -- the group was meant to spend the night. According to the article.
Virginia is way tough on this sort of thing.
I’m against the 21 year old drinking age, so I say harsh. They acted responsibly and took the keys from the kids...
Alright, the question I’d want asked, if I was a teen....who squealed?? Come, if you are 16, that’s like hitting the jackpot.
Of course, now I am a much older/wiser parent..And I’d be plenty steamed if someone gave my kid booze at a party they hosted..knowing they were underage...
morons
Two years is more than fair. These parents didn’t just give alcohol to their own kids but to 30 others who attended, some as young as 12 according to the article.
They took the keys precisely to prevent that type of thing from happening...
Why would the parents do such a thing? Maybe they thought they were above the law, as many with money seem to think. Clearly, they were not above the law, and they will have time in prison to think about that.
I agree. I believe that it's at the root of our binge-drinking problem. Forbidden fruit, and all.
Six months would have been plenty.
“It was a bad idea, but good intentions by my estimation.”
I disagree about the good intentions. The intention should have been: no drinking until legal age, period. The way to control it at a party is to be there, supervising it and watching all beverages and other mind-altering substances. It isn’t easy being a parent but buying alcohol and telling the kids to stay put isn’t the answer. You are just whetting their appetite for alcohol and anyone who thinks the kids will drink only in safe situations doesn’t know kids.
On the other hand, I’m not at all sure prison was the answer, either. I’d be in favor of community service in teen alcoholism centers and lecturing parents about the dangers of allowing their kids to drink.
Giving providing beer to 12 year-olds? That’s not good. I can certainly deal with 16 year-olds having a pop or two...
Did they call each of the parents of the other kids and ask them if it was ok? I think not. If I was a parent of one of the other kids...I would have pushed for a stiffer sentence.
I think that is a ridiculous sentence. I also think if a kid is old enough to go war and defend his/her country, he should be able to buy a beer.
I believe it’s the height of federal gov’t arrogance to force states to go along with this buffoonery.
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