Cazenovia enacts Social Host Law
With a teen drinking rate twelve percent higher than the national average, the Village of Cazenovia has created a new law that targets adults who enable underage drinking, but not everyone wanted the new legislation. Tamara Lindstrom sat down with village leaders to find out why they voted the way they did.
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CAZENOVIA, N.Y. -- A new law in the Village of Cazenovia serves up a stiff punishment: a maximum $500 fine for hosting an underage drinking party. The second offense could mean two weeks in jail.
"We're just hoping to achieve that people have a better feeling of what they're doing. You know, stop and think a little," said Village of Cazenovia Mayor Thomas Dougherty.
The Social Host Law aimed at combating teen alcohol use has stirred up debate.
"I don't think we're going to get anywhere by passing a layered law that makes something illegal that's already illegal," said village trustee Amy Mann.
Under the new law, adults who allow parties with underage drinking on their property can now receive citations from village authorities; whereas under state laws, a misdemeanor charge would be issued. State laws carry heavier sentences, but prosecutors must show the adult provided the alcohol.
"But that's not always easy to do," Dougherty said. "In our case it's not a matter of trying to prove custody. It's a matter of was there a party going on or was there underage drinking going on and did you knowingly let it happen?"
Opponents say the law doesn't address the root of the problem, and doubt it will be effective.
"By passing this only in the village with right now no support from the other municipalities, that to me is like a college making a policy and making it only in one dorm," Mann said.
"It was always overlooked," Dougherty said. "It didn't matter. It's not important. And I think it sensitizes everyone now that there is a problem here."
The mayor said while he knows the law isn't perfect, he couldn't sit back and do nothing. He said the village will try the law out and see how it works over the next couple of years.
The law does not apply to religious ceremonies, or to parents who serve their own children alcohol. It will likely be enforced by police officers who respond to noise complaints.