Underage Drinking

On a Thursday night in Towson, just up the road from one of the state's largest college campuses, the Greene Turtle tavern is slowly filling up. The incoming customers, clad in T-shirts and sandals, know the routine: They present their driver's licenses to show they are old enough to drink. But the doorman does more than just eyeball the date of birth. He inserts the cards into a gray device that resembles a machine used to swipe credit card charges. "People coming in with fake IDs, they're nervous as it is," said the doorman, Matt Gwin.

Fans at two Howard County high schools are being told to leave all beverages at home when they attend athletic events in an effort to combat what one school official called an alarming level of drinking among students. Administrators at Wilde Lake High School in Columbia and Centennial High School in Ellicott City separately instituted the ban in the past two weeks. The edicts, which apply to both students and adults, allows fans to possess only beverages that have been purchased from concession stands.

Howard High School in Ellicott City became the latest Howard County school to prohibit fans from bringing beverages to sporting events in an attempt to curtail underage drinking. School administrators informed parents of the new rule through an e-mail yesterday. It takes effect immediately. Administrators at Wilde Lake High School in Columbia and Centennial High School in Ellicott City imposed similar bans in the past two weeks. Officials at Atholton High School in Columbia said yesterday they have had such a policy in effect since the beginning of the school year.

One of the country's largest brewers launched a new malt beverage for the twentysomething crowd this year with such child-friendly flavors as hot chocolate and watermelon in 2-ounce bottles. This stirred a modest fuss from the usual quarters (the president of Mothers Against Drunk Drivers says the packaging and snazzy promotional effort seem geared toward teens). But not for long. Sadly, the public's attention span over matters of teen drinking is often teen-like in its brevity. So it is with prom season.

A recent alcohol party at a private home that led to 42 Westminster High students being ruled ineligible for extracurricular activities worries authorities and professionals striving to curb underage drinking in Carroll County.Heroin abuse has grabbed much attention in the past year, but underage drinking is Carroll's most widespread problem, affecting more than half of the county's high school seniors, said Olivia Myers, executive director of Junction Inc., a substance-abuse treatment and prevention facility in Westminster.

Stung by criticism over Carroll's policy restricting students from attending parties where alcohol or drugs are consumed, schools Superintendent William H. Hyde said yesterday that he has ordered his staff to review the policy this spring.Hyde said he wants to ensure the guidelines are clear in restricting students from attending off-campus parties where underage drinking or illegal drug use occurs. Any recommended change in the policy would have to be approved by the five-member school board.

Howard County police have charged 22 youths with underage drinking, saying officers caught them with alcohol at a Glenelg residence after a high school homecoming dance.The youths -- who were given written citations requiring them to appear in court -- were drinking in the basement of a home in the 14600 block of Mustang Path about 12: 45 a.m. Sunday after attending the Glenelg High School dance, police said.Police, who said they heard rumors at the dance about a party afterward, knocked on the door of the Mustang Path residence and an adult allowed them to search the house.

IT'S NOT about "civil rights" or "parental control" or any of the other pathetic evasions employed by parents of some Westminster High School students suspended from clubs and sports because they were at a party where extensive underage drinking occurred.It is about teen-agers honoring their pledge not to do so, as a condition of participation in extracurricular activities, and the Carroll school system holding them to that pledge.It is about the multiplying dangers of underage drinking. And about the chilling attitudes of too many adults, who seem to view it as an expected rite of passage and of no concern to the schools.

Here is an excerpt of an editorial from the Boston Globe, which was published Monday.THE SAME lobby that killed a proposal last year to standardize blood alcohol levels for drunken driving is now trying to keep underage drinking out of a youth education campaign sponsored by the nation's drug czar, General Barry McCaffrey.The National Beer Wholesalers Association opposes the inclusion of underage drinking in the $195 million media campaign, claiming that alcohol is a legal substance and should not be lumped with marijuana, cocaine and other illegal drugs.

Baltimore's liquor board found one York Road pub guilty of selling alcohol to minors and dismissed charges against another yesterday after hours of testimony from Loyola College students who said they had easy access to fake identifications.Most of the 30 Loyola College students who testified at the Board of Liquor License Commissioners hearing said they could find fake driver's licenses on and off campus, through the Internet and previous owners of false IDs.Board members heard testimony in underage drinking cases brought against two bars after a Labor Day weekend police raid that was aimed at bartenders serving those younger than age 21.The board fined the owners of Irish Sea, in the 5800 block of York Road, $500 -- then suspended the sentence.

It's 10:30 on a Thursday night in College Park. The weather is warm, homework has yet to pile up and thousands of students are getting ready to drink. Also out are 34 officers from the University of Maryland Department of Public Safety, caffeinated and ready for a long evening. In the next four hours they will bust more than a dozen parties of varying sizes, confiscating kegs and pouring out bottles of liquor. They will check parking garages for rocking cars, tell students not to stand in the street and call ambulances for the intoxicated students they find passed out. They will make only seven arrests.

Liquor law loopholes can put children at risk As a parent and a small-business owner, I'd like to commend The Baltimore Sun for its call to tighten underage drinking laws ("The forgotten dead," editorial, Jan. 18). As the statewide task force on drunken driving cited in the editorial reported, "A significant number of other states have taken action to reduce underage drinking through the deterrence of license suspension." It's time to act to protect our kids. The members of my association will stand with Gov. Martin O'Malley to get this done.

The news this week that more than 100 college presidents, including top university officials in Maryland, want the legal drinking age of 21 to be reconsidered has sent shock waves through the state and college campuses nationwide. Opponents in Maryland called the announcement irresponsible and dangerous, with state Del. William A. Bronrott labeling it "the dumbest thing in the world to do." But drinking alcohol itself is not the root of the social, legal and physical problems attributed to underage drinking.

Underage drinking, alcohol abuse to be discussed The Columbia Association Teen Center, Howard County Library and Howard County Health Department will co-sponsor a discussion on preventing underage drinking and alcohol abuse from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the east Columbia library, 6600 Cradlerock Way. The free program is made possible through Leadership to Keep Children Alcohol Free, a national initiative to prevent alcohol use by children ages...

Howard County police are teaming up with the county Parent Teacher Association Council to remind teens attending proms to be safe after the big events. The Police Department has sent letters to hotels and motels in Howard County reminding them to strictly enforce the establishments' policies allowing no one under age 21 to rent a room. They are also asking hotel employees to call police if adults try to rent rooms for minors. One reason for the precaution is a January 2001 incident in which a gathering of teenagers at a hotel resulted in one student's death and injury of another.

Harford Transit has announced that bus service is being extended to serve the Abingdon Catholic Charities Housing Complex on St. Clair Road in Abingdon beginning tomorrow. The new route will provide direct bus service to the complex from about 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays. Residents at the housing complex will have access to Harford Transit's bus services to various areas of the county. By providing a direct link on the bus routes 2 and 2A, Harford Transit will allow residents to travel to shopping areas, medical appointments, educational facilities, hospitals and recreational activities.

Ellicott City's Historic District will celebrate its 30th annual Midnight Madness on Friday evening, rain, show or shine. Hospitality Weekend is planned for Saturday and next Sunday. Refreshments, shopping promotions, dining and holiday entertainment will be offered until midnight Friday and through the rest of the weekend. Free trolley service will be available. Santa will arrive by firetruck at the B&O Railroad Station Museum at 7:30 p.m. Friday. Musical performances by wandering costumed madrigal singers from Long Reach and River Hill high schools, the Centennial High School jazz ensemble, vocalist Tessa Truax and her band, As If It's Tragic, and bagpiper Jack Groves.

An Eastern Shore university president posts vacation photos with potentially offensive captions on an Internet social networking site. Eight sororities at Towson University are sanctioned after members display photos showing underage drinking on their Web sites. A middle school teacher in Howard County includes revealing photos of herself that draw the ire of parents. In each incident, those who placed them found that posting items for friends to see on an Internet socializing site such as MySpace.

Howard High School in Ellicott City became the latest Howard County school to prohibit fans from bringing beverages to sporting events in an attempt to curtail underage drinking. School administrators informed parents of the new rule through an e-mail yesterday. It takes effect immediately. Administrators at Wilde Lake High School in Columbia and Centennial High School in Ellicott City imposed similar bans in the past two weeks. Officials at Atholton High School in Columbia said yesterday they have had such a policy in effect since the beginning of the school year.

Fans at two Howard County high schools are being told to leave all beverages at home when they attend athletic events in an effort to combat what one school official called an alarming level of drinking among students. Administrators at Wilde Lake High School in Columbia and Centennial High School in Ellicott City separately instituted the ban in the past two weeks. The edicts, which apply to both students and adults, allows fans to possess only beverages that have been purchased from concession stands.