Posted on 06/07/2005 3:21:33 PM PDT by tgslTakoma
Anna Phelan and Emily Adams wanted to end their four years at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School with a memorable backyard graduation party.
There was a blues band, a moon bounce, a popcorn machine and a pit for making s'mores. Guests feasted on hot dogs, hamburgers and bratwurst. There was plenty of ginger ale, cranberry juice and root beer to go around. What there wasn't plenty of was alcohol.
"It was pretty low-key, and it was just sweet," Margaret Engel Adams, Emily's mother, said of the party for about 80 friends and relatives. "It was just pretty much out of Norman Rockwell."
All that changed about 9:30 p.m. Thursday, Adams said, when a Montgomery County police officer knocked on the Phelans' door, in the 4600 block of Rosedale Avenue in Bethesda, to say that someone had complained about the noise. The officer then asked Anna's mother, Kathy Phelan, if he and several other officers could give breath tests to the teenagers. She refused.
So police stationed patrol cars at each end of her street, six in all, and began giving the tests to guests as they left the party, she said. None of the teenagers tested positive for alcohol, she said.
Officers then began ticketing vehicles parked outside the Phelans' house, she said, including ones that belonged to neighbors who weren't at her party. Some vehicles were ticketed for a wheel improperly touching a curb or for extending into a driveway. Emily Adams, 18, received a $35 parking ticket; her Honda Odyssey minivan was parked directly in front of the Phelans' home.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Nothing Montgomery County does shocks me anymore.
This is the same county where parents have been litigating to keep an explicit homosexual recruitment video away from their kids.
It's as if you have to fight to county to raise a child decently.
Our tax dollars at work. To protect and serve
These union thugs have to justify their existence. If they can't produce the teenage drinkers they will find some way to issue tickets.
The tickets were punishment to the parents and neighbors of good kids.
There are so many laws out there, you and I will break many laws EVERY SINGLE DAY and not even know it.
The rest of that article is very scary, indeed.
"...None of the teenagers tested positive for alcohol."
Think someone is owed an apology.
Scary Ping
Another story about this incident (from AP) is below...
BETHESDA, Md. (AP) - Two Bethesda women are seeking apologies from Montgomery County police over the way they handled a high school graduation party.
Their daughters were hosting a party Thursday night for about 80 friends and relatives to celebrate their graduation from Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School. The Washington Post reports there was a blues band, a moon bounce, a popcorn machine and a pit for making s'mores. Guests ate hot dogs, hamburgers and bratwurst. They drank ginger ale, cranberry juice and root beer. They didn't drink any alcohol.
Margaret Engel Adams say everything was "just sweet" until police arrived, saying there had been a complaint about noise. The officer asked the other girl's mother, Kathy Phelan, if officers could give breath tests to the teenagers. She said no.
So police stationed patrol cars at each end of Phelan's street and began testing guests as they left. None of the teens had been drinking. They also began ticketing cars for such offenses as a wheel improperly touching a curb and extending into a driveway.
Phelan says it was as if police were angry they couldn't find any underage drinking. She and Adams want an apology and for the officers involved to be disciplined.
Assistant police chief John King says police had "some indicators" of underage drinking at the party but they turned out to be wrong. Lieutenant Eric Burnett says the incident is under investigation and any proven misconduct will result in disciplinary action.
(My note: From listening to Chris Core a few minutes ago, the "some indicators" that the Asst. Police Chief, John King mentions above... the police observed, from neighboring backyards, that the kids were drinking something "out of red plastic cups.")
Oh NO! Not drinking from RED PLASTIC CUPS!! Ban them ! Ban them now!
Correction, To Persecute and pervert...
"We were just following orders."
I don't like the idea of the police spying on partygoers. It's one thing to observe people staggering out of the house, but none of this peeking over fences and looking around buildings trying to find laws being broken.
Get a warrant!
I remember a few years back, when a van load of elderly ladies visiting D.C. broke down on the beltway in monkey county. A policeman came by and told them if they didn't get the van off of the beltway, they would be fined. He then drove off without helping them.
Any judge worth his/her salt would deny it.
Just one more reason we should lower the drinking age back to 18 for beer and wine. That way they won't be compelled to go to Aruba or anywhere out of the country to celebrate only to lose their life.
Solo cups.
If you want the size bigger than two swallows, you usually have a choice of two colors, depending on the store -- red or yellow.
Foam cups can be messy and are more expensive.
"You're papers please!"
Its easier than going into Section 8 housing in Rockville or Silver Spring and actually arresting law breakers and drug dealers. Someone might get hurt.
You're = Your
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