Lake Villa cracking down on underage drinking parties

Lake Villa has become the latest Lake County town to expand and strengthen its law to crack down on underage drinking parties.

Trustee Jim McDonald said the social hosting ordinance approved Wednesday reflects the law recently passed in Lindenhurst to ensure uniformity of the issue between the two neighboring towns.

"We mirrored it to the Lindenhurst law so it's one uniform ordinance throughout both villages," McDonald said. "The board thought the idea was important enough to ensure this was on the books swiftly as possible."

The Lindenhurst law, promoted by the Lake County Underage Drinking Task Force, is intended to hold any adult, not just parents, accountable for hosting an event where kids are drinking or doing drugs.

And, while previous ordinances typically covered residences, the new law includes other locations, such as hotels, boats, buses or banquet halls.

The task force that crafted the law is made up of police chiefs, representatives from the Lake County Health Department, high school students and others.

The catalyst for the stricter law was a 2006 car 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.