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making a phone call to a kid's parent, or making the kid call their parent. She said she is <br />trying to understand where that falls apart. <br /> <br /> Chief Neal said a high percent of the times they are in the home, but this <br />ordinance gives the police a gateway that is very marginal. The problem is that a kid <br />could just say no, he refuses to identify themselves. People can be very uncooperative in <br />these circumstances and the police have no legal authority to force them to identify <br />themselves, no technical legal authority to even seize the alcohol. They leave the <br />residence with their tail between their legs and hope for the best outcome, keeping an eye <br />on the neighborhood, hoping that nobody leaves with a DUI and trying to keep some <br />resources there to monitor the situation until the party breaks up. This is a link that will <br />keep the kids from continuing to drink and subsequently leaving the house in cars. <br /> <br />Mayor Pico opened the Public Heating on the item. <br /> <br /> Bonnie Radford, 2050 Cotterell Court, Youth Commission Chairperson, wanted <br />to let the Council know the commission has met and discussed the amendment with the <br />police department and voted unanimously to support it. They also felt the issue came <br />down to safety and the commission saw the amendment as an important means of <br />keeping the community safe and keeping their peers safe. They felt it would deter <br />parties where there would be alcohol. A Youth Master Plan goal is to keep Pleasanton <br />youth healthy and they feel this is a way to accomplish that goal. The commission <br />understands there the perpetual straggle between the rights of the individual versus the <br />rights of society, but the commission feels this amendment is necessary to help put an end <br />to the problem of teen drinking and to keep the community safe. This also gives the <br />Pleasanton Police Department another tool to divert kids from the criminal justice system <br />by being able to handle this, as Chief Neal has already discussed. Overall the <br />commission supports this and the Pleasanton Police Department and urged the Council to <br />pass this ordinance. <br /> <br /> Debra Block, 8506 Lupine Court, spoke as a mother of four teen-age children and <br />the President of the Alameda Chapter of Mothers Against Drank Driving (MADD). <br />MADD supports zero tolerance regarding under age drinking. This proposed ordinance <br />will go a long way in sending the message to young people that consuming alcohol under <br />the age of 21 will not be tolerated. We spend a lot of time talking to youth about the <br />dangers of drinking and also drinking and driving. The police need to be able to do more <br />when they see young people consuming alcohol in homes. She has four teen age children <br />and while her husband and she are vigilant about what their children are doing, they also <br />want to give them some freedom because they have developed trust in them. If she <br />received a phone call that her child was at a home consuming alcohol, they would deal <br />with that child. But if the police could not call them because of the existing ordinance <br />and the child later drove impaired or got in a car with an impaired driver and was killed <br />or injured, she would be very angry. People's judgment is impaired when they consume <br />alcohol. She knows first hand what happens in drank driving crashes because she not <br />only provides emotional support to families who have lost loved ones in drank driving <br />crashes, she experienced a tragedy of a drank driving crash nearly 12 years ago when her <br /> <br />Pleasanton City Council 15 04/01/03 <br />Minutes <br /> <br /> <br />