Mundelein discusses hosting rule
Reciting a litany of sobering statistics about underage drinking and the fatal crashes that follow, Mundelein village officials Monday heard impassioned pleas from high school students, substance abuse experts and their very own police chief to adopt a social hosting ordinance.
Police Chief Ray Rose, Lake County State's Attorney Michael Waller, members of Mundelein High School's Stand Up Task Force, and Bruce Johnson of Nicasa, a local substance abuse prevention and treatment program, all appealed to public safety committee members - trustees Ray Semple, Steve Lentz and Robin Meier - to adopt rules expanding the liability of adults who enable kids to drink or do drugs at parties.
"Everybody has this perception that it's OK to host a drinking party as long as the car keys are collected and nobody drives," Rose said. "It's not OK. We, as a community, have got to understand it's not OK for our kids to be suffering brain damage because alcohol is eating up their brain cells. It's not OK that our kids are getting killed on the highways."
The social hosting ordinance was crafted by the Lake County Underage Drinking Task Force. The ordinance is intended to hold any adult, not just parents, accountable for playing host to an event where kids are drinking or doing drugs. It also broadens the kinds of places where the law can be enforced.
Current laws typically cover residences, but not places such as hotels, boats, buses, limousines or banquet halls. The new ordinance covers those locations and others.
If passed, Mundelein would join 16 other towns - including Gurnee, Grayslake and Lindenhurst - that have a social hosting ordinance.
The catalyst for the stricter rules was a 2006 crash that killed two 18-year-olds who had just left a drinking party in Deerfield. The parents who hosted the party were found guilty of endangering the life of a child.
Reaction from trustees was mixed.
"My son is 20 years old, my daughter is 17 years old. If passing this ordinance will make all parents take a breath and think twice about having a party or letting their kids attend an unsupervised party, it will be doing a good thing," Semple said. "I get it. I understand it."
Trustee Meier said by the time the ordinance is enforced, it's too late.
"Part of the problem I have with the ordinance is that it is reactive. It's after the fact. It's not preventive," Meier said. "It goes into effect after somebody has done something wrong. I'm looking for more tools that would be preventive rather than a new ordinance. I think that's the wrong approach."
A decision on whether to adopt the ordinance will be made by the village board at their meeting next month.