Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Who's To Blame?

There was an article today in the Kentucky Kernel written by the Mike Muth, father of Brian Muth, the UK student who picked up by the police at a party for under-age drinking, and was hit and killed by a car while trying to cross New Circle Road intoxicated when released from the Fayette County Detention center. The article calls for UK to do a better job of protecting its tudents from such alchohol related trgedies, such as having UK authorities do a better job of monitoring party size. This all comes in response to the recent death of another student due to another under-age, alchohol-related death.
While I am sad for the loss that Mr. Muth has experienced, it angers me to see that he still blames UK for his son's poor decisions. It seems that he wants to blame everyone but his son for what happened that night. Let's look at the facts:

1) Brian was under-age and drinking at a party.
2) He got drunk with a blood-alchohol level fo .103
3) The police arrested him because he was under-age, thus doing their job.
4) Brian was later released an hour later, still under the influence of alchohol, and was killed when he was hit by a tractor trailer on New Circle Road while attempting to cross.

Now let's look at each fact in detail, and compare them to Mr. Muth's article:

1) He was under-age at a college party, in a situation that he didn't belong in for many reasons. How is this UK's fault? It isn't. It is the parent's responsibility to teach their children to avoid situations like these, not UK's. The college campus is an adult world. You don't have your parents there to watch your every move like high school. Therefore, before college, high school, middle school even, parents have to teach their kids about avoiding these situations, even though there may be a hundred other peers there taking part.

2) He was drunk. And I doubt it was the first time, either. Most college tudents come into college already having alchohol experience in high school. Once again, just another reason why responsibility has to be taught early.

3) The police did their job. Brian was breaking the law, and he got arrested. Mr. Muth compares his son and the recent student who was killed in a variety of different ways, including the fact that they were "both extremely frightened and made poor choices as a result of their encounter with the police and the situation they found themselves in." This statement makes me sick. First of all, he says that your son made a poor choice because of the police. I've got news for you: he made poor choices because he was drunk, and even that resulted from the poor choice of deciding to drink in the first place. Don't blame the police for doing their job. Their not there to comfort drunken 19-year olds and make them feel safe. They are there to protect the public, and that includes arresting 19-year olds who are drunk and are bound to make more bad decisions that will put innocent people in danger. Secondly, says that poor choices were made because of the situation. This is true, but that all could have been avoided if Brian had made the correct decision to stay sober to begin with. Later, Mr. Muth says that the boys had to make "life-threatening decisions in a state of mind in which they did not have the rational capability to do so." Another true statement, but yet something that could have been avoided from the get go.

4) Upon his release, Brian was still drunk, and was hit by a truck while trying to cross New Circle Road late at night. An "adult" signed off for his release, thus forcing the police to release him. It seems to me that some blame ahould be pointed to this adult, no doubt a friend of Brian. If this guy or girl were a true friend, they would have left Brian in jail to sober up, or at least take him home themselves. Instead, this young person let Brian go about his business, thinking that he would make it home alright. That was not the case, of course.

Don't get me wrong, I feel for those who lost a loved one when Brian was killed. However, I am sick of parents blaming others for the bad decsions of their children. they only have themselves to blame. Brian made a string of poor choices that night, all of which began when he decided to get drunk. I don't know what it is with our society that we feel that it is normal for a 19 year-old college student to go get drunk. Students feel that they have the right to get drunk without any responsibility for their safety or the safety of others, simply because they are a college student.

It saddens me when I see all of these students lives' revolving around their party/drinking schedule. Is it a wonder that we have so many divorces, so much marital unfaithfulness, so much spouse/child abuse, so many kids growing up in poverty? I would dare say that alchohol can be directly or partially blamed for many of these things that we see and hear in our society everyday. Very few people start drinking when they are middle aged. It starts when they are young, at the dawn of their adulthood when a whole new world of responsibility is opened to them. And if they are not prepared for that new world that they face, they will most likely make bad decisions. That is why it is so essential that parent teach their children to make good choices early on inlife. It will be easier to make those decisions when they reach college. It's time that people start taking responsibility for their own decsions, as well as parents taking responsibilty for the choices of their children, and stop having the attitude of "Hey, it's college Everybody drinks in college. They'll grow out of it, their jsut experimenting." Untill then, nothing will change. Students will continue to get drunk, continue to make bad decisions, and continue to bring tragedy to a place that should be full of joy, hope, and promise.

posted by Wes @ 10:17 AM

5 Comments:

At 8/30/2005 01:07:00 PM, Blogger d blake said...

Good post, Wes. I'm reminded that the police are also there to do breathalizers on 20 yo males who are driving cars with alcohol-scented air freshner that rear end other cars. Those who haven't been drinking take the test without fear because they have nothing to hide.

 
At 8/31/2005 09:45:00 AM, Blogger Josh said...

I believe the primary cause of underage drinking rests exclusively with Marilyn Manson, South Park, and the public school system. "Parents should teach kids not to drink." That's crazy! They have enough to do. If only there was a cute, plush mascot around to educate kids about the dangers of underage intoxication...

 
At 8/31/2005 05:25:00 PM, Blogger Justin said...

heres who I would blame....
1. the alcohol company
2. the police
3. the government
4. George Bush
5. Osama Bin Laden
6. the University of Kentucky
7. Pat Robertson
8. everyone else in the world except for myself and my dumb kid who decided that getting trashed was cool

 
At 8/31/2005 08:53:00 PM, Blogger JTapp said...

Didn't I read about someone who died running from the cops? Was that last year? That kids dad MAY have had an argument, but this one is just baseless.
UK is doing all it legally can to eliminate drinking, and the cops are doing more than they legally can to stop it. In fact, they stopped his kid from partying but he got himself released and, in my opinion, committed suicide.

My beef with the cops is more about how they infiltrate apartments/homes without a warrant by trying to blend in with the crowd, and how they go around in their unmarked pickup trucks and plain clothes looking for targets. I remember watching on several occasions at Campus Downs a plainclothed cop driving around in a pickup screaming and f-bombing people who had been partying and were walking back to their apartments or the Royal Lexington, threatening them with all kinds of nonsense.

In my MGT 340 class ("business law") we were taught by a lawyer who would weekly discuss these issues with us and civil rights violations by campus cops.

To me, all this goes to show that this kids' dad is really ignorant. If he had an ounce of a clue he'd realize that the cops are themselves treading the line-of-the-law to stop his kid from drinking, and that UK is a whole lot safer than wet campuses.

 
At 8/31/2005 10:11:00 PM, Blogger Wes said...

Tapp, the dad I was talking about was the fahter of the boy who was killed last year on New Circle. He was comparing his son's scenario to that of the young man who was killed last week.

 

Post a Comment

<< Home