Officer Buzzkill

I partied the whole week after graduating high school. At one party, thanks to quaffing shots of Rumple and Jager, I ended up coming out to pretty much everyone, and woke up the next morning with a towel as a blanket, curled up by the toilet, with nary a memory of 90% of the night. In a house in the middle of a big old prairie, mind you, with no idea how to get home.

Police on alert for graduation parties

'FORT COLLINS - Bob Younger is hoping the long arm of the law won't be reaching out to touch graduates and their families this weekend.

But he realizes rowdy graduation parties, excessive noise violations and underage alcohol consumption can result in police intervention.

"We'll have party patrols out (today) and Saturday to answer noise and other complaints," said Younger, liquor enforcement officer with Fort Collins Police Services.

"We'll be launching an aggressive attack to quickly and efficiently make sure some situations don't get out of control," he said.

Summonses will be handed out for underage possession of alcohol, open container violations and to any adult who provides alcohol to minors, whether at a bar, liquor store or private parties, Younger said.

"Our officers will be out in two-man patrols today and Saturday," Younger said. Patrol officers will pay special attention to area liquor stores to thwart any "fishing" attempts by underage kids asking adults to purchase alcohol for them. "We'll be watching for any handoffs in parking lots," he said.

Officers also will be vigilant in keeping the peace at graduation parties throughout the city and in monitoring illegal drinking.

"For high school age students, there's more of a propensity to drink at this time (graduation) than any other time," Younger said. "We want to make sure kids don't get into trouble."

Younger said authorities depend on parents to set the tone for graduation parties that are safe and sober.

"Any parents who think they can monitor drinking by taking kids' keys away and keeping them together in a so-called 'safe' environment are breaking the law," he said.

By law, parents may provide alcohol to their own underage children in their own home. "But they may not allow anyone else's child access to alcohol," he said. "We want to remind parents or guardians that there is a substantial liability in letting kids drink at a party. If an underage child is allowed to drink at your home, leaves and gets involved in an accident or any harm comes to that child, criminal charges and huge lawsuits may be brought against the parents who provided the alcohol and allowed the drinking."

Serving underage children who are not your own is a class 2 misdemeanor with a fine of $250 on up, Younger said.

Parents are urged to monitor their children's comings and goings throughout the weekend and to know which parties the kids will attend and who will supervise.

"It's important that if you are throwing the party, you are directly involved. You need to be checking everything. There should be no free rein for the kids. Kids will be kids and they'll naturally try to sneak in some alcohol so you have to be watchful and set the standard of what your expectations are," Younger said.

"If your child is going to another party, contact those parents and make sure they will be present and ask what their rules about alcohol are," he said. "If necessary, drive by the party or make some calls later on just to check."

Younger said it's important to devise a safety plan for your child should he or she consume alcohol.

"My advice to parents is to set a course of action for your child beforehand," Younger said. "Let your child know that should he drink, you would be thankful for a call home to ask for a ride. Tell your child you will be disappointed, but that you will pick him or her up with no reprimands, no questions asked at the time. You can talk about it the next morning."

The important thing is to build trust with your child and keep your child out of harm's way, Younger said.

"I've talked to some parents who have lost a child and their regret is that they didn't have that 'what if' talk," he said.'