And that is not my endorsing teen drinking at all; if you have read this blog you know I'm a teetotaling prohibitionist. My reasoning is if it is good enough for pot it is good enough for booze. To those who say we already tried that I say didn't try hard enough.
I $uppo$e a culture that glorifie$ alcohol con$umption in it$ adverti$ing and movie$ i$n't a help, either.
"Beverly mother gets jail for permitting teenage drinking; DA calls tough sentence a prom season warning" by Mark Arsenault, Alli Knothe and Amanda Cedrone | Globe Staff | Globe Correspondents, May 11, 2012
BEVERLY - In a strong message to adults tempted to host parties for underage drinkers, a Salem judge has sentenced a Beverly woman to six months in prison for permitting teenage drinking at her home two years ago.
It was believed to be the first time a person was sent to jail under
the state’s social host law when a fatality was not involved.
Tiffany Clark, 37, of Manor Road, was taken into custody Thursday
immediately upon her sentencing, said Carrie Kimball Monahan,
spokeswoman for Essex District Attorney Jonathan W. Blodgett.
Clark will serve her time at MCI-Framingham, a prison that holds female inmates.
Upon her release, she will have to serve an additional six months of home confinement.
Police were called twice to the 2010 party at Clark’s house, after
getting complaints about noise and underage drinking. A friend of
Clark’s daughter, then 16, was taken to the hospital and treated for
alcohol poisoning, Monahan said.
Prosecutors had recommended that Clark serve 11 months in jail,
based on the facts of the case, Monahan said. Clark was convicted of
providing alcohol to the teenagers and allowing them to drink the
beverages at her home.
It's not something I would do; however, kids are going to have sex and drink. There is no way of getting around it no matter how hard you stamp it out (unless you want to go Islamic, right?).
“The idea that a person would allow somebody else’s child to consume
alcohol - we see that as an egregious act,’’ she said. “Thankfully no
one died.’’
Clark’s defense attorney, Eitan Goldberg, said the sentence imposed
by Salem District Court Judge Robert A. Brennan was unusual.
“In my research, I did not find a social host case where jail time
was imposed where there had not been a death,’’ he said. “And many cases
where there was a death, jail was not imposed.’’
But this is "liberal" Massachusetts.
Monahan could not recall another case in which an adult was jailed
for furnishing alcohol to minors, unless there was a fatality involved.
Clark’s mother, in an interview Friday, called the sentence “very harsh.’’
“I think it has harsh ramifications for her children,’’ said Linda
Clark, referring to her daughter’s children, ages 17 and 9. “It changes
her whole life.’’
It sure does.
Blodgett, in a statement, said that the case “sends a clear message
to adults who think they can control a gathering of underage drinkers or
that by providing young people with a place to drink that they are
keeping them safe.’’
“With prom and graduation season upon us,’’ he said, it bears
repeating that there is no such thing as a safe underage drinking
party.’’
Yeah, okay, but I'm just sitting here wondering WHY ARBITRARILY MAKE HER the EXAMPLE?
One of Clark’s neighbors, Adel Alshraf, recalled the police
responding to the party at Clark’s home, saying that “kids were running
around everywhere.’’
“When stuff happens like that, I close my door, because I don’t want my kids involved,’’ he said.
Another neighbor, Darlene Scarsilloni, said Clark’s children always
appeared well dressed and happy and that Clark had seemed like a good
mother.
“I never thought of her as a bad person,’’ she said. “She made a bad mistake.’’
During Clark’s trial, the teenager who was hospitalized testified
that she had told people at the party: “I need to go to the hospital. I
can’t breathe. I can’t see.’’
Clark allegedly told her she was fine and to “just sleep it off,’’ Monahan said.
Teenage alcohol parties - sometimes permitted by adults to keep
underage drinkers from driving - can result in alcohol poisoning deaths
and sexual assaults, said Monahan.
“Drunken driving is not the only thing that can go wrong,’’ she said.
The drinking age in Massachusetts is 21.
Goldberg, Clark’s lawyer, said the sentence was too severe, and he pointed out that Clark had no prior criminal record.
That was my first impression. They have now gone and ruined this woman's life.
“Ms. Clark ought to have been given probation, with a period of
house arrest, but jail time was not necessary,’’ Goldberg said. “She is a
good person with a strong support network of family and friends. She
had one night in her life where she made some bad decisions. She knows
she made mistakes, and she has learned from them.’’
Clark is also required to submit to substance-abuse and mental
health evaluations.
Oh, no, they have sent her to the quacks.
In addition, she must pay $100 restitution to the
teenager who was hospitalized.
Punitive piling on.
Cape & Islands District Attorney Michael O’Keefe said Friday
evening that he would have to search records to determine if there have
been similar sentences in other jurisdictions, but he defended the
sentence as appropriate.
“The law is there to prevent this type of activity,’’ he said. “It’s
one thing to say the girl taken away in an ambulance didn’t die, but
what if she did? What would you say to her parents?’’
Not to be callous, but where were you?
--more--"
