Breathalyzer test required for Homecoming Dance

So, langenc, your point is that the Europeans actually deal with people harshly for committing the offense? Instead of raising legal ages, performing arbitrary tests, and generally annoying those who aren't doing anything?

Ironic, when the Land of Liberty has fallen behind Europe as far as the concept of liberty goes...
 
In many Euro countries a DUI means loss of license for life and any gun permit is also gone for life - if that happened here, things might change as cab companies exploded
 
oneounceload, as somebody with a family member who required massive reconstruction after a drunk driver nailed her car, I don't have a problem with certain levels of DUI bringing a potential lifetime ban.
 
I am NOT disagreeing with you at all..................my first wife wound up in a wheel chair with all of that BS, so I understand

Just saying how it amazes me that some folks get multiple DUIs or felony arrests or similar BS and still get out to do it again

If they lost it all for that offense, it might make some think twice - in a good way
 
Langec; we don't live in Italy. There's no point in comparing countries on this subject.

But, Italian TV does rule compared to ours...if you've ever been to Italy, you know what I mean:cool:
 
Carry24/7, there is a great point in comparing the two. We could also add Germany, which is another country where teens are allowed to drink for years before they are allowed to drive. Want to guess how their DUI rates compare?

While we are at it, Scandinavian countries have fewer sexual taboos; yet they also have lower rates of teen pregnancy and venereal disease.

One of our major problems in the US is the creation of taboos. They only challenge kids to find ways to get around them. Our Puritan vestiges really cause a lot of problems.
 
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This is not a geography lesson, this is about people raised in entirely different cultures. These countries also broadcast adult movies on public TV after 10pm, but I guess that's ok, they allow their kids to drink, smoke, club.... If that's all ok, then thats you and yours.

Other countries do a lot of things we don't do and vice versa.... But hey, we can agree to disagree.
 
Carry24/7, for a country that theoretically was founded on the major premise that individuals are entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, the US seems to have fallen a long way toward the government regulating things it should have left to parents.

There is no reason (at least, not one that should satisfy the Constitution) that the government should be able to tell a parent that they can't let their teenager drink in their home.

There is no reason the government should consider telling parents what video games they can buy for their kids.

Edit: For that matter, Carry24/7, if you don't want your kids to watch adult movies - don't let your kids watch adult movies. That should be your right, as a parent, shouldn't it? Do you really need to relinquish that right to any level of government? If so, what other parental prerogatives do you think you should delegate?

Laws have been on the books for centuries as far as dealing with people who harm others; whether they are acting under the influence of alcohol, drugs, religious fervor, pornography, or video games is (or should be) inconsequential.

Yet everybody wants to keep passing more laws, as though that will fix the problem - instead of nailing those who harm others, when they do so.

Because we all know that redundant legislation is the fix for societal ills - except, of course, when it comes to guns.
 
Mleake; on a lot of levels I agree with you. It's up to parents first to protect our kids, and believe me, we're protective of our kids. In doing that, we accept the protective measures of the school, it's not like they're getting cavity searches in there.

This is all my opinion, and we all raise our kids differently, which is why me and the wife are so protective in the first place! Especially if different is the opposite of our house (no drinking, adult movies, smoking, s#x, etc... For kids).

I'll accept being the bad guy on this one, 100%.

But I do agree with you that it's not a government responsibility.
 
Speaking of adult movies... several years ago, a then-girlfriend of mine walked in on her teenage son and a buddy, who were watching an adult tape. Don't know where they got it.

Anyway, she dealt with it in a way that amused me no end.

She didn't yell, she didn't get mad. She just sat down next to the two boys and said, "Ok, let's critique this..."

She then pointed out, in clinical detail (she was a Nurse Practitioner) how some things were just unlikely in real life; some would be painful; some could cause certain types of injuries, etc.

Both boys, and especially her son, were embarrassed, and wanted to squirm under the couch.

Her son never tried to sneak another porno into the house, though.
 
Hmmm!

Let's not wander into policing teenage sexuality. Do we have anything more to say about the OP?

Yep, get those rotten kids off my lawn. Where are their rotten parents? :mad::mad:

Glenn
 
............and I never even expected to get more than one or two replies.



While there were a lot of opinions given, unless I missed reading some responses, we never really answered the question: Is breath testing every high school student who enters the dance a violation of their civil rights and / or the 4 amendment?

What no lawyers in here?
 
Nope... Kids are not afforded the exact same civil rights as adults...

One issue I battled in school was "illegal search and seizure"... I was always trying to stand for something (so I wouldn't fall for anything). I tried to refuse permission for them to search "my" locker with out a warrant... well, they did as they wished including cutting off MY lock to search.

Nothing was in there to find... I was told that the locker was their locker on their property so I had no right to refuse search and wasn't entitled to have my lock replaced on their dime.

My parents even backed me and helped me battle the system...

I argued that a landlord of a rental house had no right to search or allow search of a tenants house just because he "owned" the home.

Since I was issued the locker I took this to mean I should have the same "expectation of privacy" as a rent house tenant... I lost...

My parents were told "kids do not have the civil rights afforded everyone else as a student of the public school system...

So I reckon your case will parallel mine...

But I sure ain't a lawyer...;)

Brent
 
Our apologies OP. Someone should have answered the question. No, it is not a violation of their constitutional rights under the current case law.
 
Is breath testing every high school student who enters the dance a violation....
Click to expand...

After reading the reference trophyhunter gave in post #199, I'd say not. Especially if the school can show valid reasoning such as prior incidents showing cause for such testing. Too, according to the reference, locker searchs,car searchs etc, are legal as well.

Not a lawyer but you may want to check your state laws or reference 'case laws' in your state.
 
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I don't see this as a civil rights issue in any way, shape, or form. The students are not compelled to take a breathalyzer - it's just a condition of an event. If they don't want the breathalyzer, they don't have to go to the dance. Has nothing to do with their age or status as students. It's just a question of whether the contractual conditions of attending the dance violate public policy in any way.
 
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