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StumblePublished Thursday, Sept. 3, 2009 | 3:54 p.m.
Updated Thursday, Sept. 3, 2009 | 3:58 p.m.
In mid-May Henderson police responded to a noise disturbance at the Hardwood Suites, an extended-stay hotel on Eastern. Inside one suite they found 21 Coronado high school students “chaperoned” by the mother of one of the teens and the mother’s boyfriend. A police spokesman says the mom, Cindy McCormick, admitted to buying booze for the party. McCormick, who was pregnant, was not drinking. Henderson police charged McCormick and her boyfriend with 21 counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and threw the two in jail.
A week later Henderson police responded to a similar disturbance at a residence in an upscale neighborhood. The responding officer says 20 teens scattered from the driveway upon his arrival. The remaining teens told the officer that the others were drinking but an adult was inside. The report goes on to say Dr. Rudy Manthei, a prominent local doctor, answered the door and “Manthei himself appeared intoxicated.” Manthei told the officer he’d hired security guards to supervise the teens. Manthei also told the cop 10 of the 20 youths were spending the night.
Here’s where the two tales diverge. Rather than throwing Manthei in jail like McCormick, the policeman walked away. No citations for letting the teens drink. No arrest of Manthei. The teens (at least the 10 not spending the night) would have been free to walk, drive or otherwise depart from Manthei’s home had the cop not spotted two of them in a car already driving off. Those teens were cited for consuming alcohol and picked up by a parent.
At that point Manthei, unlike McCormick, who was charged for each child present in the hotel suite, was charged with just two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Also unlike McCormick, Manthei was not thrown in jail.
We wanted to talk with Henderson police about the disparate treatment of the two incidents, but the department declined. A spokesman would only say each case is handled as deemed appropriate by the officer. Discretion is good, but shouldn’t cops present a united front when it comes to enforcing underage drinking laws? Isn’t walking away the same thing as condoning the behavior?
The police may not want to talk with us, but STOP DUI director Sandy Heverly pledged on the program to get some answers. Also hear tonight from McCormick’s attorney Bucky Buchanan, who claims police tailored their responses based on social standing, not the law.
Perhaps laws prohibiting alcoholic consumption for those expected to militarily defend social freedoms and liberties is unjustified?
Perhaps the notion that an individual is adult enough to eat a bullet for those deeming them too young to drink a beer is unreasonable?
Good point. Maybe we should raise the age to enlist.
By federal law (10 U.S.C., 505), the minimum age for enlistment in the United States Military is 17 (with parental consent) and the maximum age is 35 (Note: Congress changed this to age 42 in 2006). However, DOD policy allows the individual services to specify the maximum age of enlistment based upon their own unique requirements.
Numerous states use to allow the consumption of beer and wine by eighteen-year-olds (liquor age 21) until the late '70s when the federal government threatened to withhold federal road funding to states that didn't raise their minimum alcohol consumption limits to twenty-one -- under such federal "extortion" tactics all states complied.
Since the military places a premium on youth over experience rising the military enlistment minimum age is improbable, while conforming alcohol consumption laws to those society already deems to be that of a responsible "legal" adult i.e. eighteen, is not only more plausible but the right approach.
In America, millions of young adults under the age of twenty-one routinely consume alcohol. Although all such consumption is done illicitly the vast majority is done responsibly.
Opposing your suggestion of rising the minimum military service age, I would suggest reducing the legal drinking age to that which already recognizes individuals as "legal" adults i.e. age eighteen, shifting youthful alcoholic consumption from unsupervised environments to those supervised.
Correct me if I am wrong, but weren't the charges cited in this article against Cindy McCormick and her boyfriend already dismissed?
Hey Harley:
McCormick and boyfriended pleaded guilty in a deal and got classes and supervision.
It was funny how Jon Ralston and Sandy Heverly talked about how horrible teen drinking is and DUIs, but no one talked about how Ralston got a DUI. He called getting the DUI making a mistake. Getting a DUI is not a mistake Jon, it's a crime. Way to have full disclosure on your show.