- Feb
27
2013
As long as women across South Dakota are fighting Rep. Jon Hansen's mean-spirited misogynist patriarchy, I hesitate to suggest that I agree with that misguided Republican on anything.
But agree I do with Rep. Hansen on his decision to vote to kill Senate Bill 132 today in House Judiciary. Called a "Good Samaritan" bill, SB 132 sought to excuse minors from misdemeanor punishment for underage purchase, possession, or consumption of alcohol if they call the cops or EMTs to get medical help for themselves or other minors who've drunk too much. SB 132 cruised through the Senate but went down on a close 7–6 vote today.
University students from USD and SDSU lined up in favor of SB 132; law enforcement testified against. Rep. Hansen lined up with law enforcement and with me, albeit ineloquently:
If they go out and they get so drunk that they are lying on the floor and convulsing and choking on their own vomit that they'll be able to have their friend call the cops. I don't want to support that kind of behavior [Rep. Jon Hansen, quoted by Ben Dunsmoor, "Good Samaritan Bill Killed in Committee," KELOLand.com, 2013.02.27].
Perhaps the ineloquence is simply Dunsmoor's punctuation. But Hansen's principle stands, and I stand with it.
Let's put this "Good Samaritan" bill in the context of other lawbreaking. Suppose you decide to burn down your neighbors' house. You watch the neighbors' car pull out of the driveway. You sneak over with your gas can, light the place up, dance a brief pyromaniac jig of joy... but then notice through a window that the babysitter is there with the neighbors' kids. They've passed out from the smoke. You call 911, break down the door, haul the kids out. EMTs, firefighters, and cops come. They revive the kids, smell the gas on your hands, put two and two together, and...
...What? Give you a medal? No. You broke the law. You did damage. You created the situation that those kids needed saving from in the first place.
The situation with binge drinking parties is pretty similar. Teenagers and young adults choose to engage in activity that they know is illegal and dangerous. When the very predictable risk of that behavior manifests itself as physical harm, the supporters of SB 132 want us to excuse those kids from the legal consequences of their choices.
I can't go there. I want the law to tell young people what I plan to tell my daughter in my best Joe Flaherty voice: Drinking under age 21 is illegal. Binge drinking is dangerous. Don't even get into a situation where you may have to go to jail to save a friend's life or your own life.
6 Responses to “SB 132 Dies in Committee; No Immunity for Underage Drinkers Calling 911”
That bill should have passed and become law. Saving lives is far more important than convicting someone of a class 2 misdemeanor status offense.
And Cory, likening a 20 year old who drinks a beer to someone who burns down their neighbor's house is sick. You ought to be ashamed of yourself for offering up that faulty and twisted analogy. You're as misguided on this as Rep. Hansen.
No sickness in pointing out that a crime is a crime. Maybe the moral burden is on underage drinkers to recognize that saving a life is more important than avoiding a misdemeanor on their record.
Cory this is just wrong. The old saying isnt "with youth comes wisdom," its, "with age comes wisdom."
"The situation with binge drinking parties is pretty similar. Teenagers and young adults choose to engage in activity that they know is illegal and dangerous. When the very predictable risk of that behavior manifests itself as physical harm, the supporters of SB 132 want us to excuse those kids from the legal consequences of their choices."
No they want it easier to save a life. First you have to admit that life aint simple when you get people that are from sixteen to twenty together, remember? Lets put this in another light. Suppose that there are a bunch of teens hunting together and one accidentally shoots another. Same exact situation, mishandling a fire arm. Should we make the decision harder for the kid or easier? Seconds count, minutes could kill.
" Maybe the moral burden is on underage drinkers to recognize that saving a life is more important than avoiding a misdemeanor on their record."
Lets save the life first, then think about the moral obligations.
Kids do stupid things. History tells us that's not going to change. Should we excuse these kids for their bad behavior? Of course not, but lets not shoot the messenger for something that everyone at the party was doing.
The Blindman
Saving a life in exchange for a misdemeanor charge? Seems like an easy trade, at least at my 60 years of life. Not so easy at 14 Jon Hansen.
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I remember the issue in my youth and I've seen it with my children. Luckily we all survived with a headache.
"Kids" doing stupid things is another indication of profound failure of our education system.
I can't decide which is better or worse-- removing fallout from reporting consequences of dangerous illegal behavior or not removing those consequences. One might reduce needless deaths or in fact produce more by appearing to sanction illegal, dangerous, stupid behavior.
Incidentally, Shopko is now closing out $20 alcohol breath testers for $4.00. The device is the size of a key fob and also includes a digital timer and small LED flashlight. When I worked for SD:ASAP, the breathalyzers were about half the size of a wash tub, cost thousands and had to be re-calibrated monthly. When I left the project, the portable devices were about the size of the first brick cellphones, but were not legal for evidence at that time.
Technology moves on even if human behavior remains locked in the stone age caves of the mind.
Kids doing stupid things is what kids do, to a point. Beyond that it is the failure of the family unit and principles, not the education system Doug.
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Somehow the shift you describe fits right with Sibs issue of, raise and indoctrinate our children for us so we have no responsibility in their performance.
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Technology helps us to stay locked in the stone ages, but for the educated elite. The Unibombers Manifesto can detail the fallout due to technology, we've already seen post Manifesto, and more to come.
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