Statement-Connecticut State Capital Press Conference-Support of the Social Host Legislation

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Statement made at the Connecticut State Capital Press Conference in Support of the Social Host Legislation

“This Place” is a video shown by the Coalition to Stop Underage drinking which compellingly portrays the exposure our youth gets to alcohol in our communities and how that exposure leads to even greater use once in college. The title references this question “how did we get to this place”.

This is a question that my wife and I have been asking ourselves repeatedly over the last year when faced with the grim reality of life without our daughter, Kristine who was one of the over 1700 college age individuals who died in an alcohol related incident in 2005. Kristine was very much a victim of the prevailing youth alcohol culture depicted in “This Place”. She became a victim of the prevailing alcohol culture despite her decision to stay away from its excesses.

Many aspects of Kristine’s tragedy make the circumstances noteworthy for anyone with an aim to avoid further such tragedies. Although Kristine was a victim of the prevailing alcohol culture, she did not buy into it. Kristine was an invited guest to a campus in up-state New York that unfortunately could only be termed a campus out of control. Upon reviewing the circumstances, one can only conclude that Kristine’s death was caused as much by the inaction of the policy makers and others responsible for student safety as by the reckless actions of those attending the party at the school that she had the misfortune to visit. Further information on the circumstances of that evening are in the package distributed earlier.

My wife and I have no way to escape out of this place, a life without Kristine. However, everyone else addressing the serious issue of underage drinking still have the opportunity to make our communities and colleges a safer environment for our children and grandchildren.

Now is the time for the Connecticut General Assembly to take an important initial step towards changing this prevailing alcohol culture by passing the house party bill. You must not exit this session risking that further tragedies were the direct result of your inaction, as the inaction by that college in New York must take responsibility for its inaction with respect to the events leading to Kristine’s demise.

My wife and I implore the leadership of the General Assembly to allow HB 5211 to be debated and voted on by both houses and that the House and the Senate pass this important legislation this year. As you continue through this session please keep in mind a lesion behind Kristine’s fate that “inaction can be the source of as much damage as action.”