By Tom Morphet
State trooper Josh Bentz this week said he’ll be stepping up
efforts to crack down on underage drinking parties, including concealing the whereabouts
of his patrol car, encouraging the cooperation of liquor store clerks and working random,
late-night patrols.
Bentz’s department has come under fire from at least one parent
who says not enough is being done to stem parties regularly held along the Haines Highway,
outside the jurisdiction of Haines Borough police, where young adults share booze with
underage friends.
"Police need to find out who’s buying alcohol for these kids.
My kids are in it too, and it irritates the crap out of me," said longtime resident
and downtown store owner Connie Ward. Ward has approached Bentz and liquor store managers
with a list of residents in their early twenties she suspects are supplying booze to
underage partiers.
Ward also is trying to purchase a car demolished in a 1 a.m. Saturday
wreck at 11 Mile that coincided with a party at 16 Mile. She wants to put the wreck in a
Main Street parking lot as a warning to youths.
Toxicology tests determined the 20-year-old driver of the car was not
intoxicated, but the sole passenger of the car was. Both were flown to Juneau for medical
care after the car crossed into the opposite lane, passed through a ditch and hit a cliff
face. Injuries included a broken femur and damaged internal organs, Bentz said.
Ward said she’s aware of at least two highway wrecks involving
youths that went unreported. "They hide the cars. They get rides. A lot of them are
never reported… but somebody’s going to get killed."
She started her campaign two months ago, when a minor was seriously
injured in an accident involving alcohol. "I thought, ‘This is just getting out
of hand.’" She has confronted youths she suspected of providing to minors.
Ward said Bentz told her he needed an eyewitness or the testimony of a
minor who received alcohol directly from a legal drinker to bring charges. She wants Bentz
to be more aggressive, confronting suspected providers and stationing his patrol car near
popular party spots.
Bentz said he has broken up parties, but underage drinkers tend to
disappear when he arrives. "We could chase them into the woods and maybe catch a few.
Maybe that’s what needs to happen. Maybe we need to start handing out minor
consumings."
Paperwork, routine calls and investigating deaths aboard cruise ships
in Haines and Skagway – that he says come about once every 10 days and require four
to eight hours of his time – limit the time Bentz said he can spend chasing teen
parties.
"I haven’t written a ticket in a month. I’ve had very
little patrol time," Bentz said.
He recently changed his schedule to allow one full day of patrol per
week. Manpower, however, still may be an issue. Ward and Bentz both say underage drinking
parties are held as many as three or four nights a week.
Bentz said he’ll also take steps to ensure that teens can’t
know the location of his patrol car. Checking to see if the patrol car is parked at his
house is a small-town drinker’s trick known even to heli-skiers from the Lower 48, he
said.
Bentz said he has no problem confronting suspected suppliers. "I
can say, ‘Hey, you’re suspected of doing this. If I catch you doing it, this is
what’s going to happen to you. Maybe that’ll make them think twice."
Bentz said he would like liquor store clerks to notify him of
suspicious sales, such as a young person buying an extravagant amount of booze. Liquor
store owner Mike Ward couldn’t be reached by press time to comment on store policy,
but manager Alan Haines said even large sales aren’t necessarily a sign booze is
going to underage drinkers.
"What about parents who are buying it for their kids, or who allow
their kids to drink at the house, or the friend of their kids? The police need to police.
I’m trying to keep booze out of the hands of kids but if I’m making a sale to a
person of age and I don’t see any kids around, that sale is legal and above
board," Haines said.
Haines said Ward’s list of suspects was too broad.
"She’s asking the liquor stores to do the jobs of police and parents.
Responsible parenting is knowing where your kids are and who they’re with."
Ward admits she has trouble with her own three children under age 21.
She said she has even considered sitting in front of liquor stores to see who’s
buying. "There are lots of kids who hate me right now, and I don’t care. They
might hate me the rest of their lives, but I’d rather have that than go to their
funeral."
And Ward has support from other parents, including ones who’ve
lived with similar worries. Kim Phillips said she was thankful police kept an eye on her
son when he may have been tempted to drink and drive. A network of parents who shared
information also helped, she said.
Phillips encourages worried parents to speak often with their children
and not give up. "Adults who are buying alcohol for these kids are the criminals.
Anyone who gets caught should pay dearly for it because they’re jeopardizing our
kids’ lives."
