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Thursday, July 10, 1986, p. 3.
EDITORIAL
Related editorial here


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More than a minor problem

Adolescence in this country is a time of emotional tumult and rebellion. Teenagers fight authority to test its limits and to define their own place in a seemingly arbitrary world. Some young people choose lifestyles of nonconformity simply to be different. Others make reasoned choices which adults may or may not agree with. Each generation has had its own style of rebellion.

In the mid-1980s, altering one's consciousness with chemicals -- like alcohol, marijuana, or other drugs -- continues to be one way in which youngsters rebel against parental restrictions and test existing definitions of reality.

Emotional instability, or immaturity, is a trait common among teenagers. A strong need for acceptance by peers, attention from parents and other significant figures, and an effort to prove their worth and abilities are all characteristics familiar to parents and childcare workers.

In the State of New York there is no law against consumption of alcohol by a minor. The crime lies with the adult who provides it. The premise behind this thinking seems to be that the same degree of personal responsibility can not be expected from a minor as from an adult.

Locally, more and more young people have been observed drinking at the Skinners Falls recreation area. I wonder, do the parents of these youngsters know what's going on?

It has been said that "a parent's job is to say no and a kid's job is to sneak." That is how a child develops a conscience -- by continuing to hear those parental injunctions, even when mom and dad are not around. If a parent chooses to allow their child do drink at home, the law says that is their business.

In public places though, it becomes the responsibility of government to act in loco parentis; to teach, to correct, and to care. For society to allow minors to drink as a matter of public policy is to court addiction and disaster later in life.

The Skinners Falls rapids is a favorite recreation spot on the Upper Delaware. It can also be quite dangerous. The authority figures most in evidence there are law-enforcement rangers of the National Park Service (NPS). A major concern of the park service is river safety, and the rangers tell us that alcohol consumption greatly increases the chances of drowning or injury in the water.

Because the Upper Delaware Scenic & Recreational River is "a special kind of park" where federal regulations apply only on the water, and New York has no law against it, there is presently nothing to curtail the common practice of teenage drinking at the rapids. Part of the area is private land, while the NPS administered access is owned by the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC).

Until recently, minors at Skinners Falls were cited by NPS rangers for drinking. But since a recent incident at the falls, the park service has decided that it was acting under a misinterpretation of New York law. Previously issued citations were voided, and the NPS has stopped asking young drinkers for proof of age.

The burden lies with the Cochecton Town Board to pass an ordinance prohibiting minors from consuming alcohol, or from having an "open container" of it in a public place.

It is the responsibility of society to care for its next generations.

-- Tom Rue, contributing editor

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Related external links


Upper Delaware Scenic & Recreational River