Walding: Underage Drinking Can Be Prevented Early On, By Parents

Des Moines Register - Guest Editorial - June 9, 2005

DES MOINES, IA -- On a cold December evening, a vehicle traveling at speeds in excess of 90 mph left the roadway, collided with two utility poles and slammed into a brick wall before coming to rest on its top.

The driver of that vehicle, 17-year-old Nick Bisignano, was killed instantly, and his young passenger was critically injured. Bisignano's blood-alcohol content at the time of the accident was .204, two-and-a-half times Iowa's legal point of intoxication.

A Des Moines man stands accused of providing alcohol to Bisignano. If convicted, he faces up to seven years in prison for his role in the resulting traffic fatality and passenger injury. The tragedy serves as a solemn reminder of the dangers of underage drinking and of the consequences to adults who supply alcohol to minors.

The man who allegedly provided the alcohol to the teen undoubtedly did so, if true, without considering all the potential ramifications. Such mindless acts occur far too often in Iowa's communities.

In 2002, four minors from Wapello were killed in a car crash after consuming alcohol provided by an aunt of one of the teens. And four students from Edgewood died in a crash in 2000 after attending an underage drinking party on a local school teacher's property. Sadly, far too many similar stories exist.

A nationwide survey of teens commissioned by the Century Council, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to fighting drunken driving and underage drinking, concluded that 65 percent of teen drinkers acquire their alcohol from family or friends. In 2003, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 34 minors lost their lives in alcohol-related traffic fatalities on Iowa's roadways. Extrapolating from the Century Council's figure, that equates to 22 young Iowans killed as a result of consuming alcohol provided by an adult friend or family member.

Providing alcohol to a minor is a serious misdemeanor in Iowa and carries a minimum fine of $500. Penalties escalate if injury or death results, up to a five-year prison sentence and a $7,500 fine.

Adult providers also risk civil liability. Under Iowa's host-liability law, social hosts who provide alcohol are not legally responsible for the actions of their guests who become intoxicated - unless the alcohol is provided to an underage drinker. Simply put, when an adult supplies alcohol to someone under 21, the adult provider is financially responsible.

While most parents are vigilant against underage drinking, some remain complacent, believing that underage drinking is harmless and a rite of passage. Some parents unwisely allow their kids to drink at home, rationalizing such behavior as a safer alternative than drinking at an unknown, unsupervised location.

Rather than opening their homes to underage drinkers, I encourage adults to open the lines of communication with their teenagers. The Century Council maintains that teenagers whose parents regularly talk to them about the dangers of using alcohol are 42 percent less likely to drink. Only one in four teens, however, reported having such conversations.

Facilitating discussions about alcohol abuse, underage drinking and drunken driving will help teens assess the risks of such behavior and, likewise, help adults comprehend the risks of providing alcohol. Adults also should be mindful of the example they set for children with their own drinking.

Unfortunately, for one Des Moines teen and one adult, the choices made on that fateful December evening cannot be relived. Perhaps their plight, however, can help others make better choices by serving as a lesson of the potential consequences of providing alcohol to minors. Above all, it should remind us that underage drinking is no "minor" problem.

LYNN M. WALDING is the administrator of the Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division and the president of the National Conference of State Liquor Administrators.