Marin County News

Saturday October 9th, 2004

Cops get tough on teen drinking
By Con Garretson
Marin IJ reporter

Action comes after 10 Novato students are suspended.

The Novato Police Department has announced a crackdown on underage drinking and illegal sales of booze, a move that follows the alcohol-related suspensions this week of 10 Novato high school students.

Ten students from Novato and San Marin high schools - eight boys and two girls - were suspended after being found under the influence of alcohol on the San Marin campus after homecoming football games at both schools last Saturday, district officials said.

The students, who are set to return to school Monday, are also prevented from participating in extracurricular activities for 40 school days.

That means the end of the season for five unidentified football players - three from Novato and two from San Marin - and one San Marin female athlete, officials said.

"I think these are good kids who made a bad decision," Novato Unified School District Superintendent Jan La Torre-Derby said. "Our consequences are rigid."

San Marin Principal Loeta Andersen said one of the students was tested for alcohol using a police officer's breathalyzer. That occurred at the request of a parent, who picked up the boy after being called by school officials who identified him as a likely drinker, she said.

The boy was one of four Novato High students - three of them football players - who came to San Marin between the end of their game and the dance. It was unclear whether the tested boy was on the football team.

La Torre-Derby said the other students were either obviously intoxicated or admitted drinking. Students are free to refuse a breathalyzer test or to leave, but their parents are contacted in any event, she said.

Administrators for two other Marin public school districts Tamalpais and Shoreline said they keep breathalyzers on high school campuses, but rarely use them and only in the event a student shows apparent signs of having been drinking.

Studies show alcohol use among Marin teens is higher than the state average.

The statewide Healthy Kids Survey asked Novato students who were freshmen in 2001 and juniors last year about their alcohol use. The survey showed 60 percent of the juniors said they had consumed alcohol in the previous 30 days, compared with 41 percent statewide.

The drinking and suspensions in Novato come despite repeated warning about the district's alcohol policy that was reiterated in a Sept. 28 letter Andersen sent to school parents.

"That's what makes it so sad," she said.

Over the course of a year, Andersen said there are more than 10 alcohol-related suspensions on her campus, but that 10 in one day is an aberration. At last year's homecoming dance there were no alcohol-related suspensions, she said, a year after there were several at the same event.

Andersen said only four of the 10 students were actually stopped on their way into the dance. There were about 600 students at the dance, meaning less than 1 percent of the attendees were involved, she said.

"The students I've talked to haven't said they think the punishment was too harsh," Andersen said. "They just keep asking, 'Why would they make that choice? Why would they do it?'"

Even before last weekend's incident, Novato police were making plans to reduce the number of bottles in the hands of teens, with the help of state and federal funding, Sgt. Rich Hill said.

"We've been planning for this for several months," the sergeant said. "It was a coincidence that we're launching this after the (San Marin incident), but, in a way, it couldn't be better timing."

The department has traditionally done such specialized alcohol-related efforts twice a year, in the summer and around the holidays. The grant funds will allow for two programs per month.

Police recently sent letters to all city alcohol merchants about the new effort, and this month officers and an agent with the state department of Alcoholic Beverage Control will conduct site inspections for compliance with applicable laws.

Next month, monitored underage decoys will attempt to buy alcohol. They will not use false identification or misrepresent their true age.

Hill said the success of the program will be measured by how few purchases they are able to make, with a goal of making none. Illegal sellers will be cited.

The police effort will also entail decoys encouraging adults to "shoulder tap," or buy alcohol for them.

There will also be additional sobriety checkpoints to deter drunken driving and an increased effort to curtail underage drinking parties.

Hill said it is a misdemeanor crime to provide alcohol to minors at house parties, as well as host or allow such functions on private property. Depending on the circumstances, enforcement action may be taken immediately and the homeowner billed up to $500 for related law enforcement costs, he said.

"Novato is going to be a laboratory for what other communities are going to be looking into doing and they're just a step or two ahead," said Lauire Leiber of the Marin Institute, which studies alcohol use issues.