Tahoe judge orders underage drinkers to place an ad in hometown papers.

Tahoe judge orders underage drinkers to place an ad in hometown
papers.
By Barbara Barte Osborn -- Bee Correspondent
Published 2:15 am PST Thursday, December 29, 2005
Story appeared in Metro section, Page B1

More than 65,000 revelers are expected to crowd into the South Lake
Tahoe casino area Saturday night to ring in the new year.

But underage drinkers should beware. If they're arrested and
convicted, a judge requires them to fess up to the crime by placing an
ad in their college or hometown newspaper.

The 3-by-5-inch ad, which must include the defendant's name, states:
"I was arrested and convicted of criminal misbehavior in Stateline,
Nevada. Lake Tahoe is a great place to visit and vacation, but please
remember to behave responsibly. I didn't, so I was sentenced to ____
days in the Douglas County Jail. As a condition of my release, I
agreed to publish this reminder to others."

"The arrests are primarily of out-of-town college students, so we're
trying to get the word out to college campuses," said Douglas County's
Tahoe Township Justice Court Judge Richard Glasson, who initiated the
requirement five years ago.

"We thought it would be helpful to have them share it with their
peers."

All minors convicted of misdemeanor violations are fined $187, and
those with alcohol or drug-related violations, including possession of
false identification, must also place the newspaper ad in order to
waive jail time - a potential 10-day sentence.

"We've had almost 100 percent compliance," he said. "For most, this is
a first arrest. They don't want to spend time in jail and we don't
want to put them there."

He also said it's working. Glasson said he saw 109 in court after the
2002 celebration and less than a dozen last year.

"In 2003, we had half a dozen from Chico State (required to run ads);
the next year, none," he said.

However, there are other methods - such as requiring community service
- that have proved more effective in dealing with underage drinking,
said Jim Moon.

Moon is vice president of student affairs at California State
University, Chico. He oversees Greek life on campus and coordinates
alcohol-abuse prevention programs at the university, where there have
been about 10 alcohol-related deaths since 1995.

He said he's never noticed one of the ads in the student or local
newspapers.

"I don't think the ads would be very effective," he said. "Most of
them would see it as a badge of honor."

What's worked in the town of Chico, he said, is requiring minors who
are arrested at large events, such as those on Halloween and Labor
Day, to show up twice later for community service work "no matter
where they live."

"If they had to come back to Tahoe (for community service), that's a
huge incentive for them - much more so than fines or ads," Moon said.

http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/s...14856165c.html

====
"I don't care (if I get booed). I don't know any of those people. As long as my kids tell me that they love me, I'm fine. My motto is, when people talk about me, I say, 'Who are they? They're not God.' If God was out there booing me, I'd be upset."
-- Bonzi Wells, Sacramento Kings
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Ablang wrote:
Tahoe judge orders underage drinkers to place an ad in hometown
papers.
By Barbara Barte Osborn -- Bee Correspondent
Published 2:15 am PST Thursday, December 29, 2005
Story appeared in Metro section, Page B1

More than 65,000 revelers are expected to crowd into the South Lake
Tahoe casino area Saturday night to ring in the new year.

But underage drinkers should beware. If they're arrested and
convicted, a judge requires them to fess up to the crime by placing an
ad in their college or hometown newspaper.

The 3-by-5-inch ad, which must include the defendant's name, states:
"I was arrested and convicted of criminal misbehavior in Stateline,
Nevada. Lake Tahoe is a great place to visit and vacation, but please
remember to behave responsibly. I didn't, so I was sentenced to ____
days in the Douglas County Jail. As a condition of my release, I
agreed to publish this reminder to others."

"The arrests are primarily of out-of-town college students, so we're
trying to get the word out to college campuses," said Douglas County's
Tahoe Township Justice Court Judge Richard Glasson, who initiated the
requirement five years ago.

"We thought it would be helpful to have them share it with their
peers."

That's just stupid. Their "peers" are doing it too, and they are
unlikely to care who reads it.
-L.