Underage Drinking

WHEN ANNE ARUNDEL county and Annapolis police sent an 18-year-old volunteer to buy beer in 15 Annapolis area liquor stores two weekends ago, they suspected that several of the stores would illegally sell liquor to him.However, they were "incredibly surprised," according to Officer O'Brien Atkinson, when all 15 establishments allegedly sold beer to Michael Roomian of Edgewater without asking for identification.Liquor Board Chairman Richard Bittner said the results of that operation, part of a countywide offensive against underage drinking, were unprecedented in his seven years on the panel.

Howard County police and school officials are investigating a post-graduation trip by Glenelg High School students that ended in three arrests, including one of a student, on charges of drunken driving and possession of marijuana. The boat trip out of Annapolis was sponsored by the Glenelg boosters' club and ended about 3 a.m. yesterday, when police stopped two cars near the high school, officials said. The drivers and a passenger were picking up graduates who went on the trip, said Patti Caplan, a Howard County public schools spokeswoman.

The chairman of the Board of Appeals said yesterday that he will write County Council members to complain about a councilman's conduct during a liquor board hearing and what he sees as a lax attitude toward underage drinking.George L. Layman, a candidate for County Council, said council members who sit as the liquor board are not serious about underage drinking. Council members disagree.Councilman Charles C. Feaga, a west county Republican, says Mr. Layman used an impartial liquor board violation hearing for a political platform.

School board amends dress code The Harford County Board of Education unanimously amended the county schools dress code Monday to enforce restrictions on loose-fitting clothing. The motion, offered by school board member Salina M. Williams and seconded by Patrick L. Hess and Thomas L. Fidler Jr., seeks to better define what constitutes "baggy pants," said spokesman Don Morrison. The dress code policy prohibits "baggy pants" but has been difficult to enforce without specific parameters.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland is calling for the Baltimore County school system to back away from punishment imposed against athletes at Dulaney High School for attending a party where dozens of citations for underage drinking were issued. In a letter sent yesterday to Superintendent Joe A. Hairston, the ACLU says the school policy prohibiting athletes from attending parties where underage drinking or drug use takes place, whether they use the substances or not, violates state law. "The question is who gets to be the parent, the parent or the school officials," said David Rocah, the ACLU attorney who signed the letter.

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.

With the alcohol death of 15-year-old Tiffany Fouts and related murder charges against four other teens as an impetus, a Harford County legislator plans to press this year for a bill making adults responsible for underage drinking that occurs on their property."

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.

The message was loud and clear to students leading up to Mount Hebron's "Beach Bash II" dance Feb. 17: Don't drink. But by the end of the night, five students had been kicked out of the dance for alcohol consumption, and police were saying that alcohol was suspected in a single-car crash that killed one student headed to the dance and sent two others to the hospital. The events in Ellicott City that night have focused renewed attention on underage drinking, a problem not limited to Mount Hebron or to Howard County which, like other suburban school systems, is fighting back.

Despite a legal drinking age of 21, surveys of Maryland young people find time and again that consumption of beer and wine far outstrips their use of any other illegal substance. Underage drinking is a widespread problem that will be controlled only through a wide variety of approaches. But legislators have a chance this session to close one especially troublesome loophole by requiring a simple registration procedure for kegs of beer.Keg parties are a popular way to fuel underage gatherings with alcohol.