City Council Moves Towards Repeal of Social Host Ordinance (Poll Included)

Last night's meeting of the was filled with Facebooking, Angry-Birds-playing, Starbucks-drinking students who were fulfilling classroom requirements.

But by the time a particular agenda item that directly impacts them came up  -- the introduction of an ordinance that would repeal a Social Host Ordinance designed to curb underage drinking -- many of them were long gone. 

Had they stayed for the entire meeting, the students would have had the opportunity to weigh in on the issue that passed by a margin of 3-2; Mayor Jack Batchelor and Councilman Rick Fuller cast dissenting votes and Councilmen Dane Besneatte and Thom Bogue, along with Vice Mayor Michael Ceremello voted in favor of it. 

The council essentially paved the way for the ordinance to come up during its next meeting for another vote, this time to adopt the repeal of the Social Host Ordinance.

Dixon Police Capt. Tony Welch told the council last night that ever since the ordinance went into place Nov. 24, 2009, the department has not issued any citations for violations of the ordinance.

The Social Host Ordinance calls for fines of $100 for a first offense, $200 for a second, and $500 for subsequent offense for Dixon homeowners/renters who host parties, or whose children host parties, in which underage drinking is taking place.

Welch told the council that every other city in Solano County has a similar ordinance in place and that in August 2010, then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law AB 2486 -- the Teen Alcohol Safety Act -- that allows civil litigation against social hosts who serve alcohol to underage individuals.

"The goal of the Social Host Ordinance is not to punish but to educate the public that drinking by the underaged will not be tolerated," he said.

"I don't understand ... why it is that you think there's a necessity for having this ordinance when it hasn't even been used in two years," Vice Mayor Ceremello told Welch. "And to say that you have a problem with wild and unruly parties and then say that, well, this gives you the ability to come in (the home) even when the parties aren't loud and unruly just so that you can inspect to see whether they are serving alcohol to kids seems like a real invasion of privacy to me. And I am really disappointed members of our community that expressed to me that they have a problem with this ordinance aren't here tonight."

"Throughout time we continue to give up more and more of our rights, and throughout time more and more of our rights are taken," Councilman Thom Bogue said. "We are not just going to keep giving up our rights, that's not going to happen. It's not that I don't have faith in our local police department, because I do. I just don't have faith in continuously giving up our rights. We have to make a stand at some point."

"It has to do with freedom and democracy and privacy under the Constitution we actually have the right against an unreasonable search and seizure," Councilman Dane Besneatte added. "Do I want underage drinking and unruly parties? No."

Besneatte said when he hosted a party for his then-15-year-old daughter, before the enactment of the ordinance, the music drew the response of police. The officer wanted to enter Besneatte's home to search for underage drinking. Had the ordinance been in place, the officer would have been allowed to enter the home and it would have been an invasion of his privacy, Besneatte said.

"That invasion of my privacy would have been unacceptable," he said. "I believe in responsibility and I think that our citizens showed that with our fireworks. I believe in parents' responsibility."

Welch assured Besneatte that Dixon Police officers have received training of when they can and can't enter someone's home to search for underage drinking.

"It's very clear to us that simply observing a minor in possession of alcohol or in violation of the Social Host Ordinance is not sufficient to enter a home, we made that clear to our staff and it's not our intention at all," he said.

Several people at last night's meeting spoke out against the repeal of the ordinance during the public comment section of the discussion. 

"It's helping parents be more comfortable in knowing that their kids are in someone else's home and that parent is not going to allow them to have alcohol or drugs," said Cookie Powell, Dixon parent who is also the director of . "I'm here tonight as a parent of four adult children who survived their teenage years here in Dixon so I know what goes on. I've picked up my kids from parties where there's kids spilled out into the street drunk and disorderly and out of control and falling down drunk. And a few of my children have had friends who have been killed in car accidents due to alcohol."

Powell said she was also at last night's meeting as part of the city's Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs (ATOD) team and gave several figures to the council including one that revealed that 25 percent of Dixon's youths have used alcohol by the time they get into 9th grade, some start as early as 12 years old, she said. 

Kay Cayler, who was on the Dixon City Council in 2009 and voted in favor of the ordinance, also spoke to the council.

"It's not a Constitutional issue, it's a safety and a child protection issue," she told the council. "It is something that the community can fall back on that the can fall back on. This is not about the Constitution." 

“It’s not taking the rights of parents,” Mayor Jack Batchelor said. “What this does is it puts parents on notice that they are going to be held liable should they not enforce rules of decorum … what is acceptable and what is not acceptable (during parties). It also puts parents on notice that in the event that they are not there and somebody else comes in whether it’s their children or an adult who is not associated with the family and provides alcohol that they are still going to be held responsible and that’s reasonable protection. It’s not taking away the rights of the parents.”

Councilman Fuller agreed and said that in his many years of enforcing laws in Dixon, the problem of underage drinking has been prevalent. The ordinance, he said, gives police one more tool to help curb the problem.