Alcohol, baseball and high school students
We expected some blowback as a result of this story. After all, it involves high school baseball players getting ready for this weekend's state championship series, a citation for possession of alcohol, and a school decision that they hadn't literally violated athletic policy.
There was some sentiment that we shouldn't have published the story, that we should have given the two players a pass for a relatively minor mistake than could seriously affect their futures. There was also some feeling that the teenagers shouldn't play in the upcoming series and that the school should change its alcohol policy.
It is true that we don't normally publish misdemeanor citations for alcohol possession. But we featured this team as the centerpiece of the Sports front page one day last week. They are on the brink of the state championship. And, honestly, teenage drinking (and driving) is an issue in this county. (Yes, I know they hadn't actually drunk anything.)
In an editorial aside, it seems to me as if the school isn't following the spirit of its athletic policy. Either that, or there is a hole in the policy the size of a Barry Bonds homerun.
Comments (4)
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Talk about making mountains out of molehills. This article was a mean-spirited attempt to create news where none exists at the expense of two teenage boys.
Your excuses about teenage drinking and driving make no sense, considering these boys 1. hadn't been drinking and 2. certainly weren't drinking and driving.
Posted on June 4, 2007 9:29 AM
I'm very bothered by the equation of teen drinking and drunk driving. I was a teenager when my younger sister was killed by a drunk 32-year-old; today I'm the parent of three teens. I would be much happier if the focus in drivers ed etc. was less on the evils and illegalities of teen drinking, and more on the effects that drinking has on the reflexes and reaction time of everyone who drinks, whether teen or middle-aged.
It's something you might want to look into locally: To what extant are teens and pre-teened being educated about how "bad" alchohol is, and how much are they being educated how it impairs driving? Is the message being taught anti-teen-drinking, or anti-drunk-driving? Is the current emphasis (in federal drinking age laws, DARE curricula and the like) hurting the fight against drunk driving?
Posted on June 6, 2007 10:17 PM
I have read so much about the CHARGES against these boys --last I recall we don't punish people for charges absent proof of guilt. If I understand the position of the paper and many readers, things that happen outside of school and unrelated to school, for which there has been no conviction, only accusations, and which even if true do not result in the violation of a stated policy, should still result in some enforcement . . . . Scary.
Posted on June 15, 2007 11:27 AM
I have read so much about the CHARGES against these boys --last I recall we don't punish people for charges absent proof of guilt. If I understand the position of the paper and many readers, things that happen outside of school and unrelated to school, for which there has been no conviction, only accusations, and which even if true do not result in the violation of a stated policy, should still result in some enforcement . . . . Scary.
Posted on June 15, 2007 11:28 AM