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Kyle Allen, a Presbyterian College football star, died on Sunday morning of alcohol induced respiratory failure the Florida Times Union reported. Allen was a standout athlete and student who garnered numerous accolades from his peers.

Although Allen had recently turned 21, his death demonstrates that the current drinking age does not teach students to drink, and live, responsibly. Unfortunately, deaths related to alcohol or alcohol poisoning are no stranger to college campuses. This news, paired with the CDC’s recent report that binge drinking remains prevalent after college, proves the need to reevaluate the effectiveness of the 21 year old drinking age. Is 21 actually saving lives?

Choose Responsibility Blog

More than 70 dogs are recovering after being rescued from a garage north of Winnipeg Tuesday night.
Manitoba stories

In mid-November, a college junior found himself in trouble with North Carolina law enforcement. The young man was drafted out of high school by the New York Yankees, but decided to get an education in North Carolina, and play college ball. At the University of North Carolina, he was the number four starter in the pitching rotation, but that position may have been altered by legal trouble, including allegations of underage drinking.

Law enforcement says they saw a man without a shirt in Chapel Hill around 2:00 a.m. Nov. 12. The man reportedly appeared upset about something and police officers approached him to investigate. While the officers were looking into the matter with the man with no shirt, police claim a second came running across the street and tried to take a swing at the man with no shirt, but apparently missed.

Police tried to take the second man into custody after the alleged incident, but police say he refused to put his hands behind his back. Law enforcement took that as resisting arrest. The second man is the UNC junior, who was a member of the baseball team.

The young man was arrested on a number of charges, including underage drinking, resisting, delaying or obstructing a police officer and being drunk and disruptive. A spokesman for the university baseball team told the Durham Herald Sun on Nov. 15 that the young man was no longer a part of the baseball team.

The university reportedly has declined to comment on why the young man was removed from the baseball team.

This blog has previously reported about the future difficulties a student can have in his or her job search after a criminal conviction for such an offense as underage drinking in North Carolina. Students of Pitt County area colleges, such as East Carolina University or Pitt Community College facing allegations of a student offense should consider speaking with an experienced Greenville criminal defense lawyer bout what defenses may be available in an individual situation.

Source: Durham Herald Sun, “UNC pitcher arrested, removed from team,” Harold Gutmann and Beth Velliquette, Nov. 16, 2011

Greenville DUI Attorney Blog | North Carolina Underage Drinking Lawyer | Pitt County First DUI Law Firm

don’t you think the leaders of our country make great role models for our kids?
They treat each other with such respect.
I hope my kids talk about people that don’t beleive exactly like them just like our politicians do.

I think you just clinched the sarcasm trophy. I was hoping to win that 1 myself. Oh well.

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Most insurance companies charge young drivers higher insurance premiums because statistics show that young drivers do have higher rates of accidents. Over the past two decades, a number of initiatives have been launched to help prevent Florida car accidents involving young drivers. For example, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) have created education campaigns to alert young drivers about the dangers of Florida drunk driving accidents. As well, legislators have passed laws requiring more training and placing additional restrictions on new drivers. Graduated licensing ensures that teens cannot

However, most experts agree that the way to prevent car accidents among young drivers is to include more training. There are many suggestions about adding more training for young drivers:

1) Defensive driver training. Defensive driving courses go one step further than basic driver education, by helping new drivers learn how to anticipate and avoid car collisions. Many parents already send their teens to defensive driving courses or even to racing school – which also teaches additional defensive driving skills. Insurance companies often encourage parents to pay for this type of additional training by offering insurance discounts to teen drivers with additional defensive driver training.

2) Decision training. Some experts believe that teens may be more likely to make poor decisions – such as the decision to drive while talking on a cell phone or the decision to overload a car with passengers – which older and more experienced drivers can resist. Teaching teens to make good decisions behind the wheel can help prevent Florida pedestrian accidents and traffic accidents, according to some experts.

3) Night driving training. Most driver education classes and all driver tests for licensing take place during the day, which means that most teens learn night driving through practice. Taking private night driving lessons with a trained driving instructor can help close the gap, but currently this additional training is not required.

4) Additional restrictions for new drivers. Young drivers are not allowed to have any alcohol in their system and may face additional restrictions. Some legislators have suggested additional restrictions for young drivers – such as banning young drivers only from using mobile devices while driving.

5) Increasing the age for new drivers. Some Florida residents in years past have suggested that 16 years old is too young to be behind a wheel. In fact, across the country there have been campaigns to increase the driving age to 18. However, this is considered a very controversial suggestion.

6) Winter driving training. Most Florida residents do not need to worry about whiteout conditions, black ice, and other dangers of winter driving. However, some argue that winter driving skills should also be taught in Florida, since eventually Florida drivers may move or travel to other states where winter driving is a very different experience.

7) Longer in-car training hours. Most basic driver education courses require only a limited amount of in-car training. Some argue that these hours are not adequate to really teach teens to drive safely. Some Florida parents pay for additional private lessons for their children, to ensure one-on-one attention from a driving instructor and more supervised driving.

Florida Car Accident Lawyer Blog

Building on our previous college binge drinking research, The Century Council conducted follow-up research among two of the college drinker types we identified last year. These students’ unique perspective will help address the issue of dangerous overconsumption on college campuses. The research explored the drinking behaviors of “Malleable Moderates” and “Savvy Sippers” as well as their social networks and how they impact drinking behaviors and attitudes.

For clarity’s sake, our definition of “social networks” means trusted groups of friends such as college friends, high school friends, etc. and not “social networks” as defined by online sites such as Facebook. Recently the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) released a report regarding the impact of social networking sites on a teen’s decision to drink, smoke, and use drugs. Perhaps the assumption that images seen on social networking sites encourage poor decision making should be questioned. We think the better course of action is to focus on addressing the behavioral changes, not blame the mechanism by which photos and videos are shared.

Highlights from the as yet unreleased findings confirmed that half of college students begin their weekends on Thursday. Going out to dinner, going to bars, going to parties, and just drinking alcohol are the primary weekend activities (Thursday, Friday and Saturday); these plans are not premeditated but rather made day of and easily changed. Students are, however, more likely to make decisions about how much they plan to drink before going out, and do so on their own rather than with their group.

There is good news for parents who might have just dropped off their college son or daughter: they’re still studying (usually between Sunday and Wednesday,) passing exams, and getting good grades. Completing papers and projects are considered very important goals in their typical week.

When it comes to socializing, students are making their connections prior to arriving on campus or early in their college careers. They identify their key and closest social groups as friends from their:

• Place of residence (52%);
• Significant others (40%);
• Hometown (29%).

Not surprisingly, groups with whom the students feel closest to and with whom they are most likely to socialize are also the groups they drink with most often. A majority of students report their drinking behavior does not really change from group to group, but a plurality do report they sometimes drink more when they are with certain friends.

We look forward to sharing the full results later this fall. In the meantime, be sure to check out all the exciting student-generated work going on at college campus to reduce overconsumption.

You Know. Be There. [Facebook]

Century Council Blog

This week, The Century Council is honoring leaders who have shown an outstanding commitment to fighting drunk driving and underage drinking, and promoting healthy lifestyles and teen driver safety.

We are proud to recognize the following 17 state legislators from across the nation:

• Alabama Senator Bill Holtzclaw (R-2) and Representative Mike Hill (R-41) for championing the Matthew John Dahl DUI Prevention Act, establishing a statewide ignition interlock program
• Alabama Senator Rusty Glover (R-34) for sponsoring legislation doubling the penalties for driving with a BAC of .15 of higher
• Arizona Senator Linda Gray (R-10) for her lifetime achievement in drunk driving prevention
• Colorado Representative Tom Massey (R-60) for sponsoring legislation to increase physical activity in public schools
• Delaware Representative Helene M. Keeley (D-3) and Senate Majority Leader Patricia M. Blevins (D-7) for championing legislation providing effective penalties and treatment for hardcore drunk drivers
• Florida Representative Tom Goodson (R-29) and Senator Thad Altman (R-24) for sponsoring legislation to establish heightened penalties for repeat violations of the social host law
• Maryland Delegate Kathleen M. Dumais (D-15) for her lifetime achievement and helping to secure final passage of this year’s Drunk Driving Reduction Act
• Mississippi Senator David Blount (D-29) and Representative Richard Bennett (R-120) for championing the creation of a statewide social host law
• Montana Senator Larry Jent (D-32) for sponsoring legislation establishing the offense of aggravated DUI
• North Dakota Representative George J. Keiser (R-47) for sponsoring legislation to improve teen driver safety
• Pennsylvania Representative Katharine M. Watson (R-144) for encouraging residents to increase their physical activity and fitness and for sponsoring legislation strengthening the graduated driver licensing (GDL) law for teens
• Virginia Senator David W. Marsden (D-37) and Delegate W.R. “Bill” Janis (R-56) for championing legislation enhancing the zero tolerance law for underage drinking and driving

We applaud their efforts and thank them for their ongoing dedication.

Century Council Blog

It would seem there is definitely an incentive for many major news networks to play soft ball with the president because he will have a billion dollars in the bank to advertise with next year.

Media outlets make money selling advertisements.

What do you think?
@fush ya……."Shouldn’t people be smart enough to see it themselves?"

I don’t know about "should", I just know what people currently are. Uninformed and getting manipulated on a daily basis is the tip of the iceberg. The news media is only perpetuating the problem.

The more transparency the better. The system is getting more opaque by the minute…especially since that supreme court ruling about campaign finance and the removal of McCain-Feingold.

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Allegations of DWI can often have far reaching collateral consequences. Any Greenville DWI defense attorney knows that a DWI conviction can haunt many people in future job searches. Many businesses and professions conduct background searches for prior criminal charges including DWI.

In some cases allegations alone can cause people hardship in the workplace. Saturday, the principal of a Martin County school turned in his resignation from his position. The resignation followed a Washington County arrest for DWI on April 8. The principle was allegedly driving while impaired on North Carolina 45 in Washington County.

Law enforcement set up a driver’s license checkpoint near the Bertie County line on N.C. 45 April 8. Police claim the 54-year-old veteran educator was stopped during the April 8 operation. The former high school principle reportedly was administered a breathalyzer test after being stopped at the checkpoint. Police arrested the educator at roughly 6:24 p.m. Law enforcement claims the breathalyzer results exceeded a reading of .08 alcohol content; the legal limit is .08 in North Carolina for the purposes of DWI law.

The former educator reportedly also faces charges of possession of an open container of an alcoholic beverage and driving without a license. The 54-year-old is scheduled to appear in court to face the charges on June 28.

In addition to the criminal charges, the 54-year-old is subject to license revocation. License suspensions and revocations can make travel very difficult for people in North Carolina. Once suspended, many people face additional suspensions after being pulled over in subsequent investigations. An experienced driver’s license reinstatement attorney can assess what options may be available for drivers who have lost their driving privilege.

Source: The Daily Reflector, “Principal arrested for DWI resigns,” Brenda Monty 15 Apr 2011

Greenville DUI Attorney Blog | North Carolina Underage Drinking Lawyer | Pitt County First DUI Law Firm

Saturday the Ask, Listen, Learn team headed up to Boston, Massachusetts for the New Balance Boston Indoor Grand Prix at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center on the campus of Roxbury Community College.

The three-hour long event was comprised of women’s and men’s heats and pole vaulting challenges with competitors from around the world. It was truly amazing to see the winner of the Men’s One Mile Run, Russell Brown, representing USA, finish the run in 3:54.81!

Along with the men’s and women’s runs, Lindsay Crevoiserat on the New England Team completed the Girl’s Junior Mile in 4:52.60 and Miles Schoedler on the Visiting Team ran the Boy’s Junior Mile in 4:16.92. All of the runners made it look easy but we know it takes hard work, dedication, and of course saying “YES” to a healthy lifestyle and “NO” to underage drinking to achieve greatness like that!

We were especially excited to watch the Ask, Listen, Learn Youth Relay. Six teams competed in this relay, with Cambridge Jets taking the top spot with a time of 1:48.42. Waltham TC took second place with a time of 1:52.66.

Before the event, we were happy to pass out goody bags full of our materials and help kids play our Xavix game with middle schoolers and parents pouring in to the athletic center. We look forward to seeing even more of you at USA Track and Field events later on this year, but in the meantime, please enjoy our slideshow!

Century Council Blog