by peter e. bortner
Starting Dec. 24, people under 21 who are caught drinking alcohol will have to pay more for their crime, a step the administrator of the Schuylkill County Drug & Alcohol Program believes will help combat a serious problem.
"I think the increase in fines sends an important message. Alcohol use by anyone under 21 years of age is a serious problem and won't be tolerated," Melissa Chewey said Thursday.
While drinking alcohol already was illegal for people under age 21, the new legislation, which Gov. Tom Corbett signed into law Oct. 25, made it more expensive for them, which supporters hope will make people think twice before imbibing and curb alcohol-related disturbances across Pennsylvania.
"They are sending a message to college students and anyone under 21 about violating the state liquor laws," Chewey said.
First-time offenders now will pay $500, and could pay as much as $1,000 for second and subsequent violations. Previously, the maximum fine for each offense had been $300.
"The fine hadn't been increased at all since 1972," state Sen. David Argall, R-29, said. "We were hoping to adjust it for inflation."
Authored by state Sen. Jake Corman, R-34, a Centre County Republican, the legislation had strong support from both Republicans and Democrats, Argall said.
"The bill passed the Senate by a very broad bipartisan margin of 46-2," he said.
District attorneys and police chiefs from across Pennsylvania supported the bill, Argall said.
"(We) hoped to crack down on some of the more troubling cases that we've seen in college towns and other communities," he said.
Chewey said the program conducts a survey every other year of sixth-, eighth-, 10th- and 12th-graders in the county's 12 public school districts. While the results from the last three surveys, done in 2007, 2009 and 2011, suggests that students are drinking less, that does not decrease the need for the new legislation, according to Chewey.
"We see underage drinking as a serious problem," she said.
She said the survey shows alcohol is the most used drug among county students.
Corman's district includes State College, and that helped drive him to draft the new law.
"Drinking violations are a burden across the commonwealth, but in college and university settings such as State College, the problem is crippling," Corman said.
