Across the nation one finds stories from time to time about parents who let their kids drink alcohol. Some of them don’t exactly let them do it, but they don’t lock it up or keep an eye on it and the kids get in. But there are others who think that their kids will do better if they are allowed a certain amount under their supervision. It’s kind of the “inoculation” theory – if they let them drink a little, then it’ll ward off something worse.
Unfortunately, the statistics don’t back up this plan, and kids who are allowed to have liquor just end up developing a taste for it earlier on, and their familiarity and access just leads them to be the “leaders of the pack” when it comes to drinking.
A story from Missoula on October 25, 2011 doesn’t mention whether the man in the story was a parent or not, but seeing that he was only 27, he certainly wasn’t a parent of a teenager who was asking about alcohol. He was just a guy who had put up a tent at the Occupy Missoula encampment, even though Occupy Missoula officials deny that he was actually taking part in the Occupy Missoula event.
His name is John Skinner, and as he headed into a Missoula bar, he encountered two very underaged boys. One boy was 11 years old and he was with his friend, whose age was not mentioned in the story. The boys asked Mr. Skinner to buy them some alcohol. Skinner did, and then he invited them to go to his tent on the courthouse lawn, which he says was so that he could keep an eye on them. He gave them alcohol, illegally, but then figured he should keep an eye on them. Hmmmm.
The 11-year-old boy got very sick and began vomiting. Someone saw what was going on and called the police. The boy was taken to the hospital for treatment, and he pleaded guilty to underage drinking. Lots of people may be asking where the parents were, but it may be just as likely that the boy had lied to them about his whereabouts so that he could go on this adventure with his friend.
Skinner has pleaded not guilty to the charge of endangering the welfare of a child.
Apparently he must not be aware that alcohol isn’t good for 11 year olds.
