SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES
Should parents pay price for their teens’ partying?
Jan 20, 2015, 5:23 AM | Updated: 7:26 am
Parents in Sammamish could be fined for underage drinking and parties even if they aren't home under a new proposal. (AP file)
(AP file)
Should parents face fines if their kids illegally drink and party? The City of Sammamish is considering doing just that to help curb what officials say is a growing problem in the Eastside community.
The city council is looking at a new ordinance where parents could be fined up to $1,000 per offense if their kids are caught drinking, even if a teen throws a party while the adults aren’t around.
“We have parties oftentimes result in assaults and impaired driving, people leaving the parties,” Sammamish Police Chief Nathan Elledge told KING 5. “We know that oftentimes when youth are under the influence of alcohol that sexual assault can result.”
“I think that parents should be more accountable,” agrees KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson.
“I’ve never understood the parents who let their kids and their kids’ friends in high school have drinks because they want to be friends,” says Monson.
The Sammamish proposal calls for a $500 fine for the first offense, with any additional offenses over a five-year period costing an additional $1,000 each.
Elledge, a principal driver of the proposed ordinance, says the goal is to both prevent teen drinking and holding parents more accountable.
Monson, a parent of three girls, says many parents have no clue how much risk both their kids and themselves face by allowing underage drinking.
“The liability is incredible. You could lose so much if a kid drinks at your house and then goes and crashes into somebody.”
Sammamish would become the second city in King County with a so-called “social host ordinance.” Mercer Island has had a similar measure in place for several years.
The measure makes good sense to Dori Monson Show producer Jake Skorheim, who’s seen first hand how quickly a teen party can spiral out of control.
“One time I had invited a couple of friends over when I knew my parents were going out of town,” he says. “Then it was just a classic scenario where they invited people and then before you knew it, it just got out of hand it was kind of a worst-case scenario.”
The council is scheduled to revisit the issue at a meeting Feb. 3, and is expected to vote on it later next month.
