UNDERAGE OUTRAGE

Blame Enough To Share

How is it possible that more than 100 teen-agers threw a drug-and-booze
orgy in a West Side bar?

According to investigators, four high school students rented the Indigo
Lounge. Between 100 and 150 teens, some as young as 12, allegedly paid $5
to get in and an additional $5 to $15 to smoke pot in the "VIP lounge."

State regulators yanked the liquor license of bar owner James Poindexter,
but that shouldn't be the end of it.

If these allegations are true, who's responsible? There's more than enough
blame to go around.

Everyone has focused on the bar owner, and that's a good place to start. If
the accusation is correct, he evidently turned over his bar to a bunch of
teen-agers, no questions asked. Prosecutors should look into possible
criminal charges against him.

Students who threw the party also should be held responsible. It's one
thing to throw a party, another to charge people at the door. With 150
witnesses, surely police can track down the organizers. Serious juvenile
charges are needed.

What other adults knew about the party? Unless the teens served themselves
behind the bar, a bartender or waitress must have been working that night.

Police should have known sooner about the party. They should notice when
100-plus teens enter and exit a Washington Street club.

The children who attended need to face up to their part in this, too. They
were endangering themselves and others just by being there. It doesn't take
much alcohol to put a 12-year-old in a coma.

Of course, it's the job of parents to know where their children are and
whom they are with. If they were tricked, parents should mete out swift
punishment. If they didn't really care, shame on them.

One group that should not feel guilty is the faculty at Stonewall Jackson
Middle and Capital High schools. Were it not for them, investigators may
never have found out about the party. This party can't be called a failing
of the school system - it happened outside school hours.

The community must provide teens with more to do than get drunk. The Rev.
Matthew Watts and members of Emmanuel Baptist Church are trying to start a
teen center at the old Tiskelwah Elementary School building, just a couple
of blocks from the Indigo Lounge. They need help if teens are to have a
safe alternative to bars and drug parties.