Eleven University of Tampa students under the legal drinking age were arrested early last Friday morning at two clubs on Howard Avenue.
“We don’t tolerate any underage drinking,” said a VIP host at The Drynk. He said the biggest problems always surface on Thursday nights since that is the only time guests under 21 are permitted into the club.
Brittany Perednia, 18, was one of the students arrested at Mangroves. Her charges include obstructing or opposing a police officer without the use of physical force.
Jessica Ann Harris, 20, was charged with selling alcohol to minors at The Drynk.
All students were released by 8 a.m. on Friday.
“You always have people try you at the door,” said the host. “And since school just started and it’s the first week back, we’ve been extra busy.”
The general manager at The Drynk declined to answer questions when approached in person about the situation. The manager at Mangroves was unavailable for comment.
Stephanie Russell Holz, dean of students, said she was initially unaware of the arrests. “The Office of Student Conduct investigates actions of our students that occur off-campus to make sure we can safeguard our community,” she confirmed in an email. “A representative in the Office of Student Conduct will meet with students charged with violations of the student code of conduct to determine if action will be taken. Our goal is to help educate students so in the future they will make better decisions regarding off-campus behavior.”
Michael Gilmer, director of student conduct and orientation, was also unaware of the arrests as of Tuesday morning. However, he said “the Office of Student Conduct looks at each situation to determine what the best solution for the institution is.”
The 11 students did not respond to multiple requests for comment concerning their arrests.
Channing Hailey can be reached at channing.hailey@spartans.ut.edu
Asking questions are actually nice thing if you are not understanding anything fully,
except this article gives good understanding yet.
You should never count on someone else to keep you safe. More often than not, law enforcement is a reactive force. Their ability to prevent crime is often difficult. With this in mind- take a cab. Tampa is a slum.
OK, I get it underage drinking is ILLEGAL !!! IMO I believe that it would be a better use of tax payers dollars and public resources to address the REAL issues. Like preventing the armed robbery of three UT students just blocks from the school.
oops…didnt think the first one went through. well, you catch my drift.
I understand the frustration, but let’s consider what may happen if they just gave up on cracking down on these crimes that aren’t “important”.
According to the Hillsborough County Anti-Drug Alliance website…
“Alcohol is the most abused drug among adolescents and adults. Alcohol abuse is associated with motor vehicle crashes, violence, drowning, accidental injuries, sexual assault, cirrhosis of the liver, brain damage, alcohol poisoning, suicide and fatalities.
The Florida Department of Children and Families conducted the “Florida Youth Substance Abuse Survey” in 2004. 45.1% of Hillsborough County high school students reported that they drank alcohol in the past month and 22.9% reported binge drinking (drank five or more drinks in a row). 12.5 was the average age for students to begin drinking alcohol.
Hillsborough continues to lead the state in alcohol-related crashes, injuries and fatalities. Hillsborough County is # 1 in the state (per population) in alcohol-related fatalities, injuries and crashes, reporting 73 fatalities, 1,442 injuries and 1,986 crashes in 2003 (HSMV Traffic Crash Facts). Alcohol-related fatalities decreased 8% between 2002 and 2003. HCSO reported 6,758 DUI arrests in 2004. DUI arrests in the 18- to 20-year-old age group more than doubled from 182 in 1996 to 496 in 2004 (HCSO). 18- to 20-year-olds comprise 4.6 % of licensed drivers in Hillsborough County, yet they contributed to 7.6 % of the DUI arrests and caused 15.9 % of the impaired driving crashes in 2003 (HCSO).”
I know, old statistics but I am sure they will hold up. Also, according to the NIH website,
“Particularly worrisome among adolescents is the high prevalence of binge drinking – the consumption of five or more drinks for males, and 4 or more drinks for females per occasion. Underage drinkers consume, on average, 4 to 5 drinks per occasion about 5 times a month. By comparison, drinkers age 26 and older consume 2 to 3 drinks per occasion, about 9 times a month.”
and
“Underage drinking is a leading contributor to death from injuries, which are the main cause of death for people under age 21. Each year, approximately 5,000 persons under the age of 21 die from causes related to underage drinking. These deaths include about 1,600 homicides and 300 suicides.
Alcohol also plays a significant role in risky sexual behavior and increases the risk of physical and sexual assault. Among college students under age 21, 50,000 experience alcohol-related date rape, and 43,000 are injured by another student who has been drinking.”
Alot of info, and some is older, but I still think it applies today. All this information is available to everyone, but people don’t really like to find out WHY they come up with laws and why they enforce them. The simple fact of the matter is: IT’S F’N ILLEGAL! It doesn’t matter if you agree with it. Don’t do it- simple as that.
Don’t blame the cops saying they “tarnished the reputations of a group of teenagers with misdemeanor charges for doing what 90 percent of america is doing on a nightly basis.” Get real!!!! They didn’t hurt anyone because they were caught. Who knows what would have happened had they CONTINUED TO BREAK THE LAW. Those officers could very well have saved a life that night, you never know. Based on the statistics I found, it is plausible. Quit making excuses and do the right thing.
References:
http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/AboutNIAAA/NIAAASponsoredPrograms/Documents/UnderageDrinking.pdf
http://www.hcada.com/tampatac.htm
Here is a quote I picked up from doing some research.
The number of young people who drink and the way they drink results in harm to self and others including: risky sexual behavior; physical and sexual assaults; potential deleterious effects on the developing brain; problems in school, at work, and with the legal system; various types of injury; car crashes; homicide and suicide; and death from alcohol poisoning.
The preponderance of research shows minimum legal drinking age laws have had positive effects primarily in decreasing traffic crashes and fatalities, suicide, and decreased consumption by those under age 21.
This was found at http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/AboutNIAAA/NIAAASponsoredPrograms/Pages/drinkingage.aspx#footnote5
They referenced:
http://www.nih.gov/about/researchresultsforthepublic/UnderageDrinking.pdf
Also many more references to the NIH website. Anyways, do some reading on the subject and maybe you will understand. If it makes the roads safer, that’s a plus. Found this on the Hillsborough County Anti-drug alliance website
Hillsborough continues to lead the state in alcohol-related crashes, injuries and fatalities. Hillsborough County is # 1 in the state (per population) in alcohol-related fatalities, injuries and crashes, reporting 73 fatalities, 1,442 injuries and 1,986 crashes in 2003 (HSMV Traffic Crash Facts).
The statistics are a little old, but I am sure they aren’t too far off now. Put these two sources together and I think this may show a good reason for having these laws. The fact of the matter is that it IS a law, and they are supposed to uphold them. Based on the research, it seems logical to nip the problem in the bud, early on, and maybe people will learn from their mistakes and not have problems later on with alcohol abuse and all that entails.
Having a fake ID is also a crime. It is taken very seriously, especially since 9/11. Most at the school are too young to remember how easy it was to use a fake ID before 9/11/01, but times have changed. With the threat of terrorism and all that, the laws are much stricter.
We can argue all day about which laws are more important to uphold and who is and isn’t a criminal, but at the end of the day THEY BROKE AN F’N LAW!! THEY ARE BEING PUNISHED FOR IT!!! WHAT PART OF THAT DON’T YOU PEOPLE UNDERSTAND?!?!?! Anyways, hope this helped lol
To: Are you for real,
You are the problem, and so are others who think like you do. Tampa police IS out searching for drug dealers and other criminals. But you know what’s also a crime? Underage drinking. You’re right, everyone drinks underage. But not everyone is dumb enough to go to a club with a fake ID and expect nothing bad to happen.
Hey here is an idea, maybe the Tampa police department should redeploy the officers onto a detail that maybe is just a little more important. Like maybe arresting drug dealers, making dui arrests or tracking down felony warrants. I would love to see the stats for illegal drug arrests for the same night. You want to stop the kids from going into clubs and drinking ? Arrest the club owners, hit them with huge fines, take away their liquor licenses. Then and only then will they stop serving underage patrons. What have you accomplished here? You’ve tarnished the reputations of a group of teenagers with misdemeanor charges for doing what 90 percent of america is doing on a nightly basis. Get real !!!!!
These kids werent hurting anyone, they were just trying to have a good time.
As JSIAMIAM and JSIAMIAMIAG said, the drinking age is the law, so get over it. If you want to change it, then do something constructive to get it changed – you’re intelligent college students, figure it out.
Of course UT has the right to get involved in their students’ off campus behavior. Granted, you probably live somewhere else and really don’t care about the school’s reputation, but they do. As an adult UT student AND long-time Tampa resident, I care too. I am sorry to tell you that UT students don’t have the best reputation to begin with–they are considered spoiled, over-indulged, inconsiderate, and arrogant. (I have seen evidence that both proves and disproves that assessment) Incidents like this just prove them right. Minimizing it and laughing it off as ridiculous is just as ignorant. Just sayin’…
Thank you. At least someone here is a responsible adult. Students 18+, you are now adults as far as the United States legal system is concerned, and will be tried as one in court if you break the law. Understand and accept it. In three short years, you can get as piss drunk as you please and for the rest of your life if you choose to do so.
So until then, lay low.
Some people cannot understand sarcasm, so I will leave it out of this post. I have heard the argument that “if you are old enough to die for your country, you should be able to drink” for years. I served in the Marine Corps from 2001-2010, and heard it probably every weekend. Had a young 19 yr old Marine tell me that one Friday night before he went out and got drunk and ended up getting hit by 3 cars and died in the hospital.
Granted, most people would probably not do what this guy did, but there is a reason for the drinking age- whatever that may be. If you can’t be mature enough to follow a rule like this, we can’t expect you to be mature enough to make the right decisions while you are drinking.
Rules are in place, and whether we like them or not, they should be followed. It doesn’t matter what you think! Can you believe that? If you are going to break a rule, law, whatever- don’t complain when those who have a job to uphold the laws snatches you up and you get in trouble. Man up! That shows some maturity in itself.
In closing, use another excuse other than the “old enough to die for your country” one. It is getting a bit old. Just respect the laws that are in place and if you decide to break them, take the punishment like an adult. Also, UT can do whatever they want. They have rules and policies they have to follow, as well. They aren’t forcing anyone to go to UT, so if you don’t like the rules- leave! Easy as that.
UT has every right to stick their nose into this. Kids going to our school getting caught drinking and arrested brings down the reputation here at our school making it look like a joke and you can get a way with illegal drinking. Everyone believes the legal age should be changed but people have been fighting that for years. Until then UT has every right to take further action in punishment. Besides the most they ever do is put them in AA meetings so people can get help.
If you can die for your country ou should be able to drink a beer! And I agree that UT should min their own damn business with what one does off campus. The code of conduct in essence should only be enforced on campus, it has no jurisdiction outside te grounds, so they should be able to add further punishment that doesn’t involve them in any way shape or form. They are just looking for a reason to kick kids out, take their money for the semester, and then fill their spot with someone else.
Awesome idea, Coco. That wouldn’t cause any problems at all. You should try and get some congressional support for your idea.
Just legalize the age to 18. There have to be more sinister things happening in Tampa, than busting a bunch of minors peacefully drinking. UT is pathetic enough to even get involved in such activities, legal or not, that occur off-campus.
I briefly worked as a secretary at a Georgia University and such charges are taken seriously. Things are different now since 9-11. National Security reports everything recorded in one’s criminal history, including misdemeanors. I’m tempted to “thank” Dick Cheney, but who am I to judge?