Cops Want To Tap Out Keggers Teenage Drinking Parties In Woods Can End In Wrecks

Weekend drinking by teenagers makes driving hazardous not only on highways, but on dirty, narrow forest roads, too.

Dozens of teenagers will sneak a drink out in the hills over Memorial Day weekend and the rest of the summer.

The cops will be looking for them.

Police try with limited success to prevent accidents, such as last weekend’s fatal roll-over near a popular party spot on Signal Point south of Post Falls.

That accident killed Robert J. Reid, a 19-year-old from California, and injured four other teens, three from Post Falls. Charges still are pending.

Though authorities hesitate to comment on the incident before charges are filed, some students have little doubt that drinking was involved.

“That’s what that place is all about,” said Chrystal Stincelli, a senior at Post Falls High School. Students interviewed at Post Falls and Coeur d’Alene high schools said outdoor beer-drinking parties remain a popular pastime among teenagers.

Signal Point, Hayden Creek, Fernan Saddle, Rainy Hill campground and Beauty Bay were mentioned as popular party spots.

Beer is acquired with fake identification, or through older siblings, strangers, or a rare parent, students said. Sometimes they find a nice spot to party, then camp-out or simply pass-out. Sometimes they have the foresight to ask a designated driver to take them home after drinking. Sometimes they’ll drive themselves.

“There are those occasional idiots,” remarked one senior.

Alcohol consumption is reportedly decreasing among older students, according to a student survey in the Coeur d’Alene School District.

Area high schools have programs to discourage drinking and drug use. Post Falls school administrators brought in Idaho State Police officers two weeks ago to talk to seniors about the dangers of drinking and driving.

Still, about three traffic accidents each month in North Idaho involve an underage drinker who has been driving, according to 1994 statistics from the Department of Transportation. A year earlier, such accidents averaged four each month.

Almost 10 percent of all drinking and driving arrests in Idaho in 1994 involved drivers who were under the drinking age. Eight young drivers who had been drinking died in 1994, up from four fatalities in 1993.

And those are just the drivers.

Students say woodland keggers are a constant occurrence during the summer, but big blow-out parties are generally detected by law enforcement.

A recent keg party planned for the Twin Lakes area was prevented when the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department intercepted a flier advertising it.

The flier had a phone number. A deputy called it, and the party was called off.

The party planning continues, on the gamble that the underage partygoers won’t get caught.

“Last year’s senior keg never got busted,” said a Coeur d’Alene High School senior who asked not to be identified. “There was a map that went around school and (the principal) never saw it.”

Mark Reinking, a U.S. Forest Service law enforcement officer, said it’s a never-ending battle to keep beerdrinking kids out of the forests.

“We get it shut down for a while, then they go somewhere else,” he said. “We do what we can but we have limited manpower.”

The Forest Service is teaming up with local law enforcement for an “emphasis patrol” this weekend.

“Memorial Day weekend is always the big one,” he said. “They’ve been cooped up all winter, and they’re ready to go.”