Organization proposes ordinance to combat underage drinking
Schauer explained that while the proposed civil fine may be a streamlined or inexpensive process, they don’t hand out citations or make arrests to make money
By Madeleine Dart, Author
April 12, 2018
TEXAS – The Coastal Bend Wellness Foundation recently found a staggering statistic.
“What we’re finding is 52-percent of youth get their alcohol at a house party,” Tiffany Collie said.
Collie is the project coordinator of the Wellness Foundation’s Project Hope. She recently decided to spearhead a new initiative to combat underage drinking in the Coastal Bend — a social host civil fine called My Child, My Choice.
“The idea is to hold property owners, people who are renting the location, holding them accountable for providing alcohol to minors,” Collie said.
The civil fine would penalize the property owner even if they did not directly provide alcohol to minors. She said this would not replace the criminal laws already in place.
“It’s just another tool that law enforcement could use and it’s a quicker process,” Collie said.
Right now, the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission allows children to drink in the presence of their parents or a legal guardian, but this law doesn’t cover the childrens’ friends. There are strict punishments for adults who provide or allow alcohol consumption.
“We already have pretty severe penalties for the alcoholic beverage code, in that case it’s not citable, you go to jail,” Assistant Police Chief Mark Schauer said.
Schauer stated that when officers are called to a scene where minors are consuming in the presence of adults, they must conduct a thorough investigation before handing out a citation.
“When we do have these, we address them and make an arrest and we cite the minors,” Schauer said. “The adults who furnish the alcohol get arrested.”
Schauer explained that while the proposed civil fine may be a streamlined or inexpensive process, they don’t hand out citations or make arrests to make money. They do so to keep the community a safe place.
“The only benefit of doing this is you could find and recover costs of our services to go out there, but the way our whole city works, the way our police department works, is we don’t see a dime of that money. It all goes into a general fund,” Schauer said.
Still, Collie is working to gain support and get the social host ordinance implemented in Corpus Christi. So far, three other cities in Texas have passed My Child, My Choice.
“It’s definitely beneficial and we’re still working to get something passed in our community,” Collie said.