Similar ordinances were accepted in the cities of Clearlake and Lakeport last year. The idea behind the ordinance is to hold social hosts liable if minors are allowed to drink alcohol at a party on private property.
Supervisor Jeff Smith said Clearlake City Council member Judy Thein – during her tenure as mayor last year – brought a version of the ordinance to the county.
The board had taken a look at an ordinance last year, but it underwent further refinements, which Smith said resulted in a better version coming back to the board.
Supervisor Denise Rushing asked about the difference between the older and newer versions. "I do think the spirit behind this is absolutely right," she said.
However, she also wanted to know if such an ordinance would be useful to law enforcement, and was curious about its potential impact on civil liberties.
County Counsel Anita Grant said the ordinance allows for law enforcement to recoup expenses for dealing with enforcement at a party situation.
The new version includes a criminal penalty the board wanted included, said Grant. "That's one of the most significant changes of this particular ordinance."
With regard to impact on civil liberties, it's scope is fairly narrow, said Grant. She said it allows people to supervise their own families at private without the country interfering; it also excludes religious activities.
Grant said it attempts to impose a sense of civil and criminal responsibility for adults.
Sheriff Rod Mitchell pointed out that absentee landowners won't be held criminally or civilly responsible for what happens on their property in their absence.
He said his staff also would still have to establish probable cause in investigating an incident, and the ordinance wouldn't broaden powers of search and seizure, which is something Mitchell said he wouldn't have supported anyway.
The ordinance will be a way of getting peoples' attention, said Mitchell.
He told the board he couldn't tell them how many cases a year the ordinance would assist his department with, but noted that in 2007 his agency had 160 cases dealing with minors and alcohol. The ordinance could help them change how data is collected on such cases.
Rushing asked how the ordinance would help law enforcement.
Mitchell said there already are laws on the books – underage drinking, driving under the influence and contributing to the delinquency of a minor – which apply in such cases.
"Our obligation to investigate doesn't change with the ordinance," said Mitchell.
What does change is that the department could collect the costs of enforcement from responsible individuals based on the ordinance's language, said Mitchell.
Said Smith, "This, to me, is a statement from the Board of Supervisors that we don't want to tolerate these types of activities that put a child in jeopardy."
When law enforcement identifies homes where a lot of party activity takes place, Mitchell suggested that his deputies could take copies of the ordinance to the neighbors, explain it to them and ask for their help.
Rushing said she supported the ordinance, adding that she didn't believe it would civil liberties or duplicate existing law, and that it would give the county a route to recovering enforcement expenses.
"I, personally, would hope it would never be used," she said, and encouraged Mitchell to use the ordinance as an education tool.
Thein and members of Team DUI, a group that educates young people about the dangers of underage drinking, attended the meeting. Speaking on behalf of the group, Thein emphasized the ordinance's importance.
"Underage drinking is a serious problem in our county and across the nation," she said.
People who allow children to be put in harm's way need to be held responsible, and the ordinance is a way of doing that, she said.
Thein said similar ordinances are used in other counties around the state, and that the effort has the support of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
With Clearlake and Lakeport already approving their own underage drinking ordinances, the county needed to approve the measure to bring uniformity to all jurisdictions, Thein said.
The fight against underage drinking locally is gaining ground, she said.
Team DUI members are "working their hearts out" to prevent tragedies, she said. "These kids are responding."
Smith moved the ordinance, which the board approved 4-0 – with Supervisor Rob Brown being absent.
The ordinance will return to the board for a second reading and final approval on June 17.
Board Chair Ed Robey thanked Thein for taking the personal heartbreak over her daughter's death in a DUI collision in 2005 and turning it into something that benefits the community.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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