COW QuickStory: Higher Fines for Underage Drinking, New Rules for Synthetic Drugs

By next week, the city of Geneva likely will have a higher fine for underage drinking and a revised ordinance to deal with the use of synthetic drugs.

The Committee of the Whole unanimously recommended the passage of both ordinance amendments Monday night. The full City Council is scheduled to meet in a week, on Tuesday, Jan. 17, the day after Dr. Martin Luther King Day.

The first motion recommends raising the fine from $100 to $250 for a first offense of underage drinking. The suggestion to raise the fines came from, a community activist and former 1st Ward aldermanic candidate.

Fifth Ward Alderman Craig Maladra, who previously said didn't feel a need for an ordinance change, voted in favor of it this time around.

"I think the measures we take today are largely effective," he said. "But in the end, I think increasing the fine sure as heck can’t hurt."

The committee did not choose to include language that would require community service to be part of the punishment for underage drinking.

"I find it discouraging we can’t do something like this," 4th Ward Alderman Dorothy Flanagan said. "It would have been nicer to include some educational factor. But I understand the administrative nightmare it could cause."

Geneva Police Chief Steve Mexin said Geneva police offer many education seminars for seventh- and eighth-grade students and as part of the high school's driver's education program.

"We all felt that it would add a significant amount of duties to the process," he said. "The city attorney agreed that adding an education element to this would just be clumsy and burdensome."

The COW also voted unanimously to approve an ordinance change that bans synthetic alternative drugs in Geneva.

Unlike recently passed ordinances in neighbor communities, Geneva's ordinance comes after the statewide law went into effect on Jan. 1.

"We feel this ordinance complements the state law and will make it more clear what is prohibited," Mexin said. "I think it's an important step in the fight against a very serious problem in our state."

Geneva Patch will provide more on the synthetic drug ordinance changes at a later date.

Mexin said anyone interested in learning more is invited to a Jan. 11 webinar hosted by The Partnership for a Drug-Free America, Arizona affiliate: "Synthetic Drugs—The Race to Keep Up, But Always One Step Behind!"

The webinar is from noon to 1 p.m. MST (1 p.m. to 2 p.m. Central), and reservations can be made at https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/197247422.

For more information, visit DrugFreeAz.org.