Posted on Friday, January 27, 2006 - 12:49 pm:

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Michele Compton, chapter head of MADD in Oakland County, said Martone is stern but principled.

"We know that with kids, you really need to be in their face, and same thing with their parents," Compton said.

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Posted on Friday, January 27, 2006 - 2:34 pm:

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I have 4 children - 3 are teens. Whoever posted that kids should learn by "embarassment" either has unusual kids, or does not have teens in this day and age.

I support the judge 100 percent. I have good kids - great kids - who are smart and do well in school, extra curricular activities - yet I believe nothing they tell me. Not one word. I ask 100 questions each time they leave the house. I ask 100 questions when they are in the house.

I am not the best mom. No one can make that claim. But I'm here trying. And the times I have gotten a bad feeling about a situation, and acted - by calling the police or going by a house address - I have never regretted my actions. Even when I found my child safe.

I am going to give this article to my 17 year old daugther. She will read it. And most likely say "Too bad for those girls" Because as a teen, she believe everthing happens to someone else and everything that happens to her was someone elses fault.

It is my job to nurture and push her toward maturity - and my only prayer (for each of my children) is that they make it whole and in one piece. Any teen is too young to have an event divide their life into a time of "before" and "after"

Thank you Judge Martone.

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As a police officer all I can say is look at the parents responses. With the exception of the obviously very good father figure who stated the judge was "a fair man" the other parents are looking to blame someone else. I run into this all the time. If I arrest Chrissy or Amanda from the cheerleading squad or Bobby or Brandon from the soccer team, then it's "why are you harassing OUR kids, OUR children would never do such a thing, all the other kids do it, blah, blah, blah. But, if I don't respond quick enough to Ramone or Ty selling a little weed to the kids in the school, it's off with my head and you want Ramone or Ty locked up until the end of time. Lest we forget that selling a little pot and underage drinking/possession of alcohol are the same level offense. Same situation when the aforementioned little princess and princes don't get a great grade on an exam. These same parents are there banging on the door to the Superintendent DEMANDING that THEIR child be allowed to retake the test because MY child doesn't fail. Bottom line is parents, quit being so damn hypocritical and stand up to your kids. They have enough friends, you don't need to be one of them. Don't worry if they don't like you or yell at you or do whatever it is that kids do to their parents. Your job isn't to have them like you it's to have them respect you and respect for the law and authority is one of your responsibilities as a parent. Also, the parents of these little charmers should take some notes from IRENE, TEEN MOM, OZ, and JOHN. I'm sure they don't accept this behavior out of their children and certainly would not accept them disrespecting the law like your children do. You won't be able to bail them out forever no matter what you think, better give them the tools to do it now. However, it's probably to late for you to do that. Good luck.

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The children of privilage. Their parents have money, and God gave them the talent to do well in school. Put on a pedistal by their parents, they never learned to be responsible human beings. Rules and laws don't apply to them, and they feel they should be allowed to skip out on the consequences of their actions.
Parents take note, if you raise your kids that way, all the money and influence you have cannot bring them back from the dead.

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I am a retired police officer of 26 years and I am one of those that used to have the kids pour the beer out and then leave. After a time, we realized that we were seeing the same kids over and over, except now as fatalities in car accidents, victims of rape or assault, or just injured or killed from non-vehicular accidents directly related to their inebriation.

So we changed what we did. We ticketed and arrested every time we found minors in possession of alcohol. Almost every one of these children were indignant and so were most of the parents. Many of these kids are now parents themselves and have told me they appreciate what we did. Our answer now, as it was then, is "We are police officers and this is our job."

We felt that by not doing what we were sworn to do, we had become a part of creating a culture of permissiveness when it came to alcohol and drugs. If lawmakers want to change the laws, so be it. But until then, we would enforce them.

If that sounds too simple, maybe it's because that's the way the system was designed and we, all of us, have unneccessarily complicated it. Make the decision you want to make but at least be adult and honest enough to realize what the consequences may be.

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this is a perfect example that intelligence doesn't automatically translate into common sense. Although, I suspect that a large part of the problem are overly permissive parents who don't think that their kids should have to experience anything other than a slap on the wrist when they break the law. And where exactly were these parents when their kids were getting flasks and liquor? My guess is that they spent more time shopping for limos and other meaningless, material things prom related than checking to make sure that their kids were on the straight and narrow. My teens KNOW that I will allow them to take whatever consequences come their way after making bad decisions so they think twice and three times before doing something dumb. Kids these days are LESS prepared for the real world than in generations gone by due to the disgusting coddling by their parents. They are doing their children no favors! The best decision that the one parent made was to pull her daughter out of State and dump her rear in a community college. Although a little tough love would have been nice before it got to this.

Kudos to the judge and no, mommy, he wasn't being vindictive. Jail time is what happens when a law breaker violates PROBATION. Too bad your child wasn't smart enough to appreciate the break she was given to begin with.

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Wahhhhhhhhhhhhh!

You made your bed. Sleep in it.

Turning your kids into whiny, unaccountable turds. Nice job. Teaching them that they are above the system, jjudges and laws don't need to be respected.

And then when one of these girls binge drinks herself to death at an East Lansing night club the parents will blame it on a bartender who kept feeding their little girl drinks cause she never drank much before...

Or maybe they'll go on a spring break trip and diappear like that chick did in Aruba. Heck, she couldn't have been drinking and promiscuous, she wouldn't do anything behind my back...

Accountability. Let em learn it now before they end up much worse.

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I agree with the judge totally. These kids today are out of control and the parents are no better. My kids know that if they do something inappropriate they will be punished! 21 is the legal drinking age. No ifs, and or buts about it. If you can't follow rules then you should be punished. I wish there were more judges like him. For the parents out there that stick up for there kids knowing they are breaking the law-it's because ofparents like you that we have the hoodlum kids we have in today's society!!! Those parents should be held accountable too!

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As a member of this community, I say, Thanks Judge! These spoiled brats may not have been driving on prom night, but they drive at any other given time and one of them already admits to having a problem handling liquor. These are not kids just having a drink on prom night, drinking is obviously part of their life style.

I have news for these kids parents and all the other parents out there who think underage drinking is no big deal: This is a drop in the bucket compared to what will happen if your kids continue to drink and put others at risk. Someday, something bad WILL happen and the consequences that your kids are facing now will be small potatoes compared to what will come.

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Kudos to Judge Martone and MK

I worked in a college-town ER a few years back. Every Friday and Saturday night, we saw more than a reasonable number of drunk college students. There is no medical treatment required of someone who has merely "had too much to drink," so we would let them sleep it off (in a hospital diaper) and let their parents react when they got the $800 medical bill because their princess drank herself stupid. We also helped them see how attractive they were in their voluntary condition by providing them of photos we took, in their diapers, after they had vomited on themselves. (This was done as tastefully as possible while still providing the punch to drive the point home).

Unfortunately, I also had the misfortune to be working when a student had consumed enough alcohol to kill himself. This case gained national attention and the parents sued the school and the fraternity for "allowing" their child to die. Their perfect son had voluntarily consumed over 30 shots of alcohol in a 3 hour period. He was not a pledge, he was not being hazed, he was not even pressured to keep up with the guys, as he was the ONLY one who made this choice. He didn't even break any laws as he was of age to drink. However, he was apparently not able to control himself in a manner to avoid his own demise.

These girls appear to have done nothing to endanger the lives of others, but their choices suggest they are of suspest ability to associate the concept of consequence with their actions. The judge did nothing more than act WITHIN the guidelines of the law to firmly establish a consequence with their actions. Would I consider these girls "hardened criminals?" No, but they are criminals. There is no question they broke the law.

I write this as a person as capable of mistakes as everyone else. I have been drunk. I have made an ass of myself in front of my friends in that condition. However, I was able to objectively look at what I had done and make a decision to not do that again. I still believe that beer is the sweet nectar of life, but I act within the boudaries of the laws, social acceptability and my personal mandates to maintain myself in a manner that does not bring shame onto me or those around me. As an adult, I alone am responsible for my actions and I accept that -- it is time that the criminals in this case do the same.

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Posted on Friday, January 27, 2006 - 9:01 pm:

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Lock up students for using alcohol underage when only harming themselves? Were they driving? Was anyone injured from this except themselves? Accountability for such a crime would include large fines and community service

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