Breezy Point Parents Arrested for Serving Booze to Teens
A typical back alley in Breezy Point
Two parents were arrested in Breezy Point this weekend and charged with 43 counts of “unlawfully dealing with children”—that is, for serving alcohol to minors at their house, a misdemeanor—and 10 counts of endangering a child. Emergency responders brought two of their underage guests to the hospital. I know what you’re thinking: gambling? In Casablanca?
Minors drinking at home is an old tradition in the private enclave on the western tip of the Rockaway peninsula (technically a part of Queens), the Times reports.
“The way [parents] operate is, ‘I’d rather they drink in front of me,'” rather than having children go down to the beach with it, said… the editor of The Rockaway Point News. “It’s against the law, of course,” he added, “but I have a 7-year-old daughter and I don’t know if when she’s 16, 17, I’d want her drinking out in the dark on the beach.”
Which might be sound reasoning, though other residents say it’s often taken too far. “Some parents… have even complained about the [community’s private] security force’s calling ambulances for cases of alcohol poisoning, preferring to drive their children to the hospital rather than involve outside agencies.”
Underage drinking is so common in Breezy that “residents joke that they don’t lock their doors—but they do lock the refrigerators kept on their porches for beer, to deter scavenging teenagers.” Thus conspiracy theories are spreading about what really happened: a bitter neighbor? A security force trying to save face after recent criticism?
The whole story from the Times; it’s always fun when the Times visits Breezy!
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