Are you kidding me? This is such a travesty! These parents knew quite well what was going on in their home and they should be ashamed of themselves. Absolutely – the kids are to blame as well for underage drinking – however it is not like these kids were sitting in a park or parking lot drinking – they were in a home with the homeowners in the house. Where is the accountability piece here? This judge should be ashamed of his ruling as well – this tap on the wrist will not raise any awareness at all.

That's the problem these days....parents give their children too much too soon and DO NOT parent. Forget about being your kids' friend and supervise. Teens get too much too soon and parents allow drinking for their underage kids way too much.

Baba, you're the exact problem with society based on your response here and in the DUI/hit and run cop story. Oh, just give everyone a slap on the wrist. Wake up!

These people made a mistake, It is a tough rode to navigate, being a parent. You know kids are going to go out and drink, everyone who is an adult on this board more than likely has. Is it safer to have some sort of control over them by having them in your house? Do you minimize the possibility of danger to the kids and others?

The permissiveness of some people makes me shudder that I should ever let me son out of the house when he is a bit older. Especially if the kids of those who think it's okay for the kids to drink live near me. My point is exactly made to counterpoint what the parents' lawyers contended: That the kids snuck in through a basement window. First, if that is so, they wouldn't have 'taken the keys'. Second, if they didn't know what was going because the kids snuck in through the basement window, they could sneak anything in, including other drugs, so maybe it was just beer, but anything is possible. Third, it doesn't matter if the parents are PROPERLY supervising the party.
Mike J. your assumption (flawed though it is) that everyone on this board has drank as an underage kid of fifteen means that so too, did the parents...which means that either A), they SHOULD have known NOT to trust their kids or their kids friends, since THEY did the same thing, or B) they DID/DO condone giving children alcohol. What if a kid sneaks back out that window and drives off? What if somebody gets too frisky and somebody gets raped or hurt IN the basement? Parenting is largely trying to prepare for the worst with kids, not blindly hoping for the best.
Parenting IS hard, but it is harder if you make poor decisions and have to correct them afterward than making just saying 'no' to your kid. Maybe your parents, dash, let YOU drink...that doesn't mean it is a good idea for anyone else's kids.

Dave,
Obviously you won't have to worry about letting your son out of the house when he is a bit older, due to the fact of your belief in your own perfection. Obviously you did not read my post (flawed as it was, and apparently your reading). Did you do anything stupid when you were a kid?, probably not (again sighting your own perfection). I am not condoning kids drinking (again never stated it was), just being realistic about it. You sight numerous "What if's", "What if" the kids drank in a park and one DID drive or get frisky and raped another in a park. Fortunately it did not happen at this party, possibly due to the fact that their was an adult presence close or the possibility the their (the drinking underage participants) parents taught them better than to commit rape . Of course, those parents who's child drank obviously did a horrendous job of raising their children. Best of luck (though I am quite sure you will not need it) in raising your son.

What a bunch of puritanical poosays! Weren't you ever a teen? I had a friend whose old lady let us party it up in the house. Thank God for her. Looking back, I shudder to think of what would have happened had she not had the foresight to realize that we were going to get our drink, booze and snow on regardless. Because we did it in her home, we spared the unwitting public from dangerous public drinkin' and druggin. Do you think teens who drink only do it when their parents give the okay? I love drugs and drinking. I've been doing it ever since with the blessing of my friends mom. Thank God for her.

oops that posted before it was done. While in high school, I had a friend who killed some innocent sober chump while driving drunk. Because my friend's dirt bag old lady let us drink and snort coke in da crib, us little beeyatches never hurt anyone. But we were going to do it anyway. She even gave us condoms because she knew we were sticking it to each other. Do you think we would have stopped having sex if she didn't give us condoms? It's because she knew we were already doing it that she had the smarts to give it to us because before that we were doing it unprotected. She spared us pregnancy and unwanted fetal alcohol syndrome kids. our version of "protection" was doing it to each other anally or homosexually. Provide your kids' drug, alcohol and sex needs at home, I say. They're definitely without question doing it anyhow.

WOW, CLASSY BOARD HERE, HUH? No wonder you folks don't think anything of how society is, you are ALL for contributing to the downfall of it. Mike J., I DID read what you wrote,w hich is why I only made mention of the fact that you had assumed that everyone on the board commenting HAD "You know kids are going to go out and drink, everyone who is an adult on this board more than likely has." That is different than NEVER doing anything stupid. While I was the boring one that drove sober and got everyone home safely, I did do stupid things at times. That wasn't what you initially said. Some of my friends drank or worse. Others never did at all. I was merely saying that it was a gross overestatment to assume EVERYBODY did. I will give you this, though...people who DID, often, even back then, honestly were shocked by the notion that not everybody else did. I can imagine it is still the same. Just as people that didn't were often surprised by how many people did. We all live in our insular little worlds to a certain degree, as kids and as adults, often too. While I'm not perfect, I do TRY to lead a decent life, and to be a good example for my son and his friends. I did so when I was younger, for my younger-still siblings.
NOT all kids drink, or are 'going to do it anyway'. Not if they are raised right. Will they drink at some point in their lives? Probably. Should they do it when they are 15? Probably not.

Dave W.
First I never stated that I agreed with what these parents did. I am sure our definitions on a lot of things are drastically different. If you DID as you say read my first post you would notice, there is not judgement in any way shape or form. You on the other hand, not so much so. In my first post I was obviously stating you do your best as a parent. Unfortunately there are very few exact rights or wrongs, except of course if you are Dave W. then no questions asked, you are right. You state that you were the boring one driving around friends who were drunk or worse, Maybe these parents were trying to keep kids from being in any situation, (What if situations included) trying their best, don't know, but hope so. Hopefully, these two weren't concerned about being the "Cool parent's", just trying to do their best and figure out the right thing (variables included for most human beings, even teen age kids, yourself withstanding) to do. Dave, I also never drank until I was of legal age and even now only once every few years, I do however live in the real world where the majority of kids do. Hopefully your child is raised by your better half also, as I am sure no person would be able to live up to your lofty expectations of them or your personal belief in your own perfection. Dave, I will no longer be adrift on the ocean of ethical ambivalence as I can look to you as the North Star.

My kid dived right into the ocean of ethical ambivalence and swam to the nearest liquor store. Drinking isn't immoral. neither is having sex. They didn't commit a ritualistic, Satanic murder (yet!). The last time the little Emo worm and his zit-faced crowd of dorks went drinking, they did it at the woods. Guess how they got their skinny jean-clad butts home? That's right. They drove themselves, drunker than God. If i ground him, that'd mean he and the future dental assistants of America will be around the house all the time blasting Phish, painting their fingernails black, dying their hair various shades of tacky and smoking weed all day in a way they think is sneaky but is totally obvious. I can barely understand how this wimp is mine considering that he acts like such a chick sometimes but the point is that when he and the rest of his dirtbags want to chill, they know they can do it at home. They can rock out to My Morning Jacket, get buzzed and be driven home by a not-so-drunk me. Relatedly, because i've stuck a condom in every orifice of his life - trust me, you don't want him and the C minus crowd breeding - it's very unlikely he'll get anyone pregnant or disease up the joint. My parents didn't know crap about anything i did. I got stoned and drank every day of high school. Once i did it with some chick in my principal's office when he was on vacation. He left his door unlocked. This was after i stole weed out of my math teacher's car. I've loved Algebra ever since.

And to Dave W; i know the whole point of living in Boreland Park is to cultivate averageness and be scared of everything all the time, but really? if the teens drink in the basement, that means they'll rape each other? become rapists? die in alcoholic comas? LOL. You forgot to mention burn down a church, become White suprematists and join Al Qaeda. LOL. Taking the whole gateway to hell thing a little too seriously, don't you think? Maybe instead of drowning in an ocean of ethical ambivalence, they'll just crash on the sofa of eternal hangovers.

William P, as much as it pains me to respond to your undistilled nonsense, I will provide you with fresh content from a major, local news source. Sadly, you just can't make this stuff up. YOU might choose to bury your head in the sand about the reality of the situation, but your hyperbole will wither and dry up, being blown away with the winds of knowledge. You don't even realize that you contradict yourself, so how can anyone dispute your accuracy or logic with you? I'm not even certain you are an actual person, or at least an adult, based on what and how you express yourself on the comment section. There are so many things to say, but none of them are nice, even if true, and none of them are helpful. Nevertheless, here is the link to just how crazy kids might be, even with common, household items that seem innocuous.
http://www.wgntv.com/news/wgntv-teens-drinking-hand-sanitizer-to-get-drunk-april24,0,7220782.story