The Board of Health is considering asking Town Meeting to repeal Marblehead’s 31-year-old social host bylaw, arguing that the state’s stronger law may make the local ordinance unnecessary and potentially confusing.
The discussion Tuesday night came weeks after Marblehead Police responded to a “spring-break-type party” at Crowninshield Island on July 4. Officers reported hundreds of youth, many drinking alcohol. Some of those juveniles now face court hearings, according to Chief Dennis King.
Board Chair Dr. Tom Massaro said the idea grew out of an April panel discussion with Essex County District Attorney Paul Tucker, King and Superintendent John Robidoux, who talked about how public health, public safety and public education could work together to address underage drinking.
“In that session, we discussed the commonwealth social hosting law, and we discussed the town social hosting bylaw,” Massaro said.
Massaro said King supports keeping both the state law and the town bylaw because he believes having both provides flexibility. He said Tucker took a different view.
“Paul clearly sees the commonwealth’s (law)— which is stronger, longer and clearer in its action — as the better of the two,” Massaro said.
Contacted by the Current, Tucker’s office said the district attorney does not have a position on Marblehead’s bylaw.
Marblehead’s social host bylaw was adopted in 1995 and approved by the Massachusetts attorney general that same year. However, Massaro said Town Counsel Lisa Mead recently advised him that similar local bylaws in other communities have not held up in court in recent years because of their wording.
“My thought was, why have a weak law on the books?” Massaro said. “If we remove the bylaw, then the stronger one would become the law driving the town culture.”
Massaro proposed that the board consider sponsoring a Town Meeting article next spring to begin a public discussion.
“I’d be happy if the board were to get an article in the Town Meeting and we discussed it in the Town Meeting,” he said. “If the existing bylaw got re-voted, that’d be great. … We would have had the discussion.”
Massaro said the conversation itself could help educate residents about underage drinking and the legal consequences of allowing minors to consume alcohol.
Board member Dr. Julie Selbst, who is also an attorney, agreed the issue deserves review from a legal standpoint.
“It doesn’t make any sense to have something on the books that does nothing or at worst confuses the issue,” Selbst said.
Selbst volunteered to review the legal issues surrounding the bylaw and report back to the board with a recommendation on whether it should pursue a Town Meeting article.
‘Major tipping point’
Board member Tom McMahon argued that the larger issue is enforcement rather than the wording of the law.
“The first issue is neither of them are getting enforced, which is ridiculous,” McMahon said.
McMahon said he believes Marblehead is approaching “a major tipping point” regarding underage drinking and read a social media comment from a friend who graduated from Marblehead High School in 1999.
The statement recalled three fatal drunk driving crashes involving local young people between 1999 and 2003 and warned that another tragedy is inevitable unless the town changes its culture around youth drinking.
“If you woke up on a Saturday morning to hear … somebody died last night drinking and driving or was a passenger in an accident, would you be shocked?” McMahon read. “Don’t be shocked. Not only will I not be shocked, but I am now conditioned to expect it to happen.”
Parents are increasingly discussing taking matters into their own hands to protect their children from underage drinking in town, McMahon added.
Asked by the Current to elaborate, McMahon said, “What would you do if some other parent was putting your kid in danger? I mean, this is getting to a point where you hope you can rely on the police, but if the chief basically says he believes in education, then he’s not even enforcing what laws we have on the books. As a parent, at some point, you do have to step in, and that’s the conversations that are being had now. I don’t know what that entails. I know what I do. I think that’s human nature to want to protect your own kids when no one else is protecting them.”
The board took no formal action Tuesday night but agreed to have Selbst research the legal status of the bylaw and advise on whether it should recommend a Town Meeting article to repeal the local ordinance.
