Intake Weekly - When Eileen Barbour and husband Mark planned a send-off celebration for their high-school son's departure to serve in the military, somehow alcohol made the list of things to buy.
No harm, no foul right? What's a little innocent drinking by underage youth celebrating the patriotic endeavors of the Barbours' son?
Oh yeah. It's illegal.
Mark, who like Eileen pleaded guilty to a Class A misdemeanor for contributing to the delinquency of a minor, must serve at least five days in the Hamilton County Jail as part of a sentence imposed last week. He also must serve 180 days of probation and perform 10 hours of community service work.
But kudos to Hamilton Superior Court 5 Judge Wayne A. Sturtevant for his decision to take a more creative approach to sentencing Eileen: homework.
Poor Eileen, who will be forced to spend at least two days in jail, serve 60 days of home detention, spend 180 days on probation, pay $184 in fines and perform 50 hours of community service, also got an even tougher punishment: a court-ordered assignment to write a research paper about why supplying alcohol to teenagers is a bad idea.
Why is it that we're ok with sending 18 - 20 year-old kids off to serve their country in wartime but not ok with allowing those same kids to make decisions concerning their personal alcohol consumption?
The drinking age needs to be lowered, if not abolished.