Rev. Erudite Redneck, B.S., B.S., M.A., M.Div.

I applaud the school for having the good sense not to take tainted money.
My new town is in the middle of adopting a social responsibility ordinance based on Edmond's ordinance. City Commissioners will pass our ordinance Monday night, with an emergency clause, to put it into effect before the start of school here. They want to make sure these parties stop happening here.
Mr. Lack may have had the best of intentions, but he's damned stupid to do it the way he did. I have extreme sympathy for anyone who has lost a person they care about to a drunken driving accident (I have lost 8 loved ones this way in separate events.) But you don't face that by getting someone else's minor child drunk.
 

Trixie,

You need to read the entire story. It says nothing about minors being allowed to drink. In fact, the coach noted that he didn't see any of the players drinking alcohol.

I think having alcohol at such a party is poor judgment. But as one poster pointed out in the comments listed below the story, schools regularly accept money that is raised from golf tournaments, where alcohol is regularly -- if not always -- available and quite often served in mass quantities. In fact, golf courses count on beer sales to help the profit margin when providing the golf course at a limited cost.

Reprimands all around, I say. But I reckon a school the size of Chisholm near Enid could use any amount of extra cash it could get.
 

Teditor, I did read the entire story and the comments. And although most of the people are saying there was no underage drinking, it's still a case of extreme poor judgment. And yes, there's a huge difference between other fundraisers where alcohol is SOLD to adults and a private party where people are bringing in their own. The host of the event, Mr. Lack, of all people should have and could have drawn the line and said NO.
There are a lot of issues at hand here, including accountability and responsibility.
And other than Mr. Lack's responsibility, I find it pretty appauling that other adults would be so insensitive to the Lacks' loss of their son and two other young men that they would think it's OK to bring beer or whatever to the Lack home in the first place, with minors present. That's a big ol' DUH! to me.
 

I think money is ethically and fungible.

Money is money, in other words, if not illgotten, which, to me, means illegally, which means the one donating it, or spending it, doesn't legally own it in the first place.
 

"ethically and morally fungible," I meant.
 

And ER, please explain the part about young Mr. Lack being "legally intoxicated." He was 18. He was driving. He and two other people died as a result. Where's the legal part?
 

Yikes. I meant "illegally intoxicated." I'll fix it. Geez. Typos matter!
 

Yikes. I meant "illegally intoxicated." I'll fix it. Geez. Typos matter!
 

This is why I hated growing up in a small town. It is not the same thing mind you as growing up on a farm or ranch out by yourself. Small towns are the hot bed of hypocrisy.
Now Mr. Lack according to what I read did not "provide" beer or "liquer". But some people who came to the party brought their own. How many people would that have been? Of the 250 attendees, if 5 show up with beer does that make it a beer bust? Does it take 10, 25, 50, ????
Is Mr. Lack suppose to have forseen this delima? Drawed the Line? What does that mean? Maybe hire some bouncers from Enid to police the guest?
One thing for sure is that there ain't 25% of the facts about the deal printed in that article. After all you can't name names of those miscreants who showed up with beer if they were the pillars of the community or their sons or daughters or if it is just heresay.
Yep, just an all around bummer this is.
If I were Mr. Lack, I would take the money down to the main drag of town and build a little bonfire with it. Or maybe take it down to a light pole in a public place and staple it up all over it and let any one who wants to reclaim their "tainted" money take it back.
I wonder how long it would take to disapper off of that pole?
But I think I might hold back about $50 to buy enough beer and whiskey to have one bender in memory of the stupidity of my friends and nieghbors. (course I'd have to go to another town to buy it)
 

Wouldn't being illegally intoxicated mean that he wasn't drunk? I mean don't you have to be legally intoxicated to be drunk under the law? So if you are not legally intoxicated then how can you be drunk? Or is this one of them potable/non-potable type English word things?
 

Dang it, yer right! I had it right the first time. Trixie's pique fooled me into thinkin' I'd got it wrong. :-)
 

So if 5 people showed up with beer, or say even 1 parent showed up with beer and was intoxicated when he drove home with his minor child in the car and killed someone on his way home was it a beer bust? I don't think whether or not it was a beer bust is the point here.

If someone had been killed on the way home from that party, would it still be okay then to accept the money?

I have nothing against drinking, trust me, but I've learned through the years to do it responsibly. And the number one rule is, "You don't drink and drive, ever, even if it's just "a couple of drinks". What message is a minor going to get if he sees adults drinking and then driving home? It's okay to do it if you're over 21??

Do we know if any of the parents who were drinking were impaired when they drove home? No, we don't. But I can see how the school might be uneasy about the situation. I think the hosting family had good intentions -- although the name of the party made me cringe -- but showed poor judgement.

Crystal
 

If the money was legally held by the person donating it, then it absoultely would be fine and dandy for anyone, a school, church or a dadgum AA hall, to accept it.

There's lots of ways to make a political, or moral, or ethical point. Refusing money is just stupid.

Money is ethically and morally fungible. Or, maybe I should say that when it comes to money, ethics and morality are fungible.
 

I see what you're saying, ER, but I can see, too, how others might think it was hypocritical to say, "We disapprove of drinking and driving around minors, but thanks for the check."

Crystal