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Police cracking down on underage drinking
Community, youths spread awareness of growing issue

John Wisely / The Detroit News

Bonanza Wine Shop co-owner May Elias checks 21-year-old Nick Davis' ID before allowing him to buy beer. Prevention officials say kids are most likely to drink in their homes, often with parents supplying the alcohol.

Police, educators, community groups and religious leaders are ramping up efforts to curb teen drinking in the face of rising liquor-law violations.

Statewide violations for selling alcohol to minors rose 12 percent last year, said Ken Wozniak of the Michigan Liquor Control Commission. State and local investigators ticketed 1,107 liquor license holders in 2005, up from 970 in 2004.

Wozniak said it's unclear from the numbers if the increase means more people are selling booze to people younger than 21 or if there are more crackdowns by police. But prevention groups say they also see an increasingly lax attitude from parents who serve alcohol to teens believing if it's supervised, it's safe.

Police are beefing up enforcement, warning parents and business owners about providing alcohol to minors, contacting students and holding town hall meetings to increase awareness of the problem as teens head into prom and graduation season.

"The main objective is to get everyone through the graduation ceremony without a tragedy," said Capt. Dave Teske of the Macomb County Sheriff's Department.

Community activists have increased their awareness efforts as well. They say despite years of warnings, tickets and tragedies, teens still drink alcohol and drive.

"It's an epidemic," said Michele Compton, executive director of Mothers Against Drunk Driving of Oakland County.

Stephanie Pecar, 14, of Waterford is a freshman at Kettering High School. She said it's not uncommon to hear classmates boasting about their drinking. "They'll be talking about how they got very drunk on the weekend and they don't care," Pecar said.

She recently volunteered for project Sticker Shock where teens and adult visit liquor stores to place stickers on six-packs that describe the penalties for furnishing to minors. The project hopes to discourage people who might be tempted to accommodate teens who lurk outside party stores and try to persuade someone older than 21 to buy booze for them.

But prevention officials say kids are most likely to drink in their own homes, often with parents furnishing the beer or liquor.

"They drink to get hammered," said Ann Comiskey, executive director of the Troy Community Coalition. "It isn't social drinking."

But many parents just don't get it, officials say.

"I see parents asking for permission for their child to go away to Daytona Beach or Cancun, while the child is on probation for a drinking offense," said Bloomfield District Judge Diane D'Agostini. "We know what those places are famous for."

Parents risk criminal penalties and civil liability if they are caught serving minors, investigators said. Gisela Zetsche, the wife of DaimlerChrysler AG Chairman Dieter Zetsche, paid $500 in fines and $2,500 in court costs last year after police found teens drinking at her Bloomfield Township home. Critics complained she got off easy, but the ordinance didn't provide for jail time until November, when the township board added it.

"We felt it would be a greater deterrent if that was in there," said Township Supervisor David Payne.
For five years, police in southern Wayne County have operated an undercover party patrol to curtail teen drinking parties. The patrol visits schools to educate teens, but it also has written more than 500 tickets for minors possessing alcohol, said Grosse Ile Detective Ken Pelland.

"We don't want to knock on the door if nothing is happening," Pelland said. "But if a teen comes outside to go to the bathroom or to get a six-pack out of a car, we're going take action."

Local police chiefs annually write letters to parents warning them of the dangers of minors drinking. Troy police visit hoteliers to remind them of the liability of renting rooms to teens to party and to liquor retailers to remind them to keep their guards up. Waterford Police Chief John Dean has added a new group of businesses to his annual pleas -- limousine services that shuttle kids to proms.

Some alcohol retailers have noticed additional police checks, said Jane Shallal, president of Associated Food and Petroleum Dealers, a trade group representing stores and gas stations across Michigan. Shallal said her group offers compliance education to members and works with the liquor industry to reduce underage drinking. Retailers aren't willing to risk hundreds of dollars in fines and attorney fees to make a questionable sale.

"It's not worth it," she said.

Sam Abraham, manager of the Bonanza Wine Shop in Livonia agrees. He said police have checked his store three times in the past year, and he has passed each time. "It's not worth it to sell it (to minors)," Abraham said.

You can reach John Wisely at (313) 222-2035 or jwisely@detnews.com.