24 - Sunday, July 27, 1986 - North Shore News Travel EUROPEAN KIDS DRINK EARLY Liquor laws are absurd LIQUOR LAWS are absurd. Pll overlook Canada’s more goofy ones and also ignore the ludicrous prices in our government monopolies. But today, I'd like to focus on the legal age for kids to drink. What a Jaugh. Any kid can get his driver's licence altered for ten bucks. Well done, too. Big kids, who grow to six feet with a heavy beard at 17, supply their friends. It's called *tmaking a run’. My husband was one of those kids, and at 16 he was making runs for his 19-year-old friends who didn't develop quite as quickly. PSCRORGNG ERR SRC eee travel by Barbara McCreadie I came out to UBC from Medi- cine Hat when I'd just turned 18. At that time the law said ‘'21." 1 , altered my UBC card — and never, ever had to produce it. And, never did | attend a UBC party that was dry. On weekends, everyone had their favorite watering-hole — ours was the Georgia. Drinking is a fact of life. Nearly every adult drinks to some extent. What does every kid want to be? An adult. What is one of the niile- stones? Being ‘‘legal.’’ It’s interesting to note that old civilizations place a lot less em- phasis on the ‘‘legality’’ of the whole thing. There’s a_ tradition involved. When I took my oldest daughter to Haly at about age !1, she was NORTH S given watered-down wine just as all my friends’ (asian) children were, These chidren were taught moderation at an early age. Tradi- tion called for an aperitif before dinner, and bit of wine (or a lot if it was a celebration) with dinner and not much more. ! know that if the drinking habits among the young people in Canada were compared to those of European kids we'd come out dead last. For European kids, drinking is no big deal. Gur kids have had it drummed into them that it's a maturity ritual. Just like anything forbidden, 1t becomes a goal. A challenge. Something you can boast about to your peers who haven’t been quite as successful at getting ‘Shorked.”’ Want to know how I know? My daughter was 18 when | took her to England last year. ‘‘Migawd!’’ she said. ‘I'll be legal. Can’t wait to hit those pubs!"’ Yeah. We hit our share of pubs. Guess what she ordered, at least half of the time. Shandy. (That’s a mild half-and-half mix of beer and non-alcoholic ginger beer). Or coke. Or milk. Our kids have too much money and not enough to do with it. The social life seems to centre «round getting your share of alccnol and partying or hitting the pubs with fake I.D. Once they’ve ‘‘passed"? — been I.D.'d and served, then there’s an unspoken emphasis on packing as much away as they can — never know might get turfed-out the next time. And very young kids drink. As my friend said, ‘‘Sure, I found out. What do you think when you wake up in the middle of the night and see your 13-year-old son, in his undershorts, heaving his guts out over the back fence?’’ Want to know the most useless phrase in the English language? Try, ‘Don't ever do that again!"’ All you can hope for is that the kid is so sick that he'll not touch liquor for at feast three years. And IRE NEWS SAILIBG RACE North Shore’ News {986 ‘Sailing Race in conjunction with SEA WING SAILING SCHOOL. and..CJOR 600 is on TODAY, ‘SUNDAY JULY 27TH. Best Wishes for a Fair Wind and a Following Sea, and Good Luck to All!! * GRDD) j.s.00. fing Sailing School aa Madime Mews, + » Granville Island V6H IX? some of then, let's hope he gets even sicker, and hasn't the keys to a car. Do you think liquor laws are going to change this very much? If kids obey liquor laws, why does the RCMP provide cab passes for the Grad classes? O.K. Pim off my soapbox, What really prompted this column was a call from a kid, the son of friends. He was goine to Hawaii and wanted to know what the ‘legal’ age was. Another kid may be going to Oregon to school and also wanted the information. I called the U.S. Travet Service and got the following: These states are ‘21° and over: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, linois, In- diana, Kansas, Kentucky, Loui- siana, Main, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washingtgon, and the District of Columbia. These states make a difference be- tween hard liquor (age 21) and beer or wine (age in brackets): Colorado (18), Louisiana (18), Mississippi (18), North Carolina (18), Ohio (19), South Carolina (18), South Dakota (19), Virginia (19). These states sell to younger kids, age in brackets: Georgia (19), Hawaii (now, 18. Reverting in October '86 to 21), Idaho (19), Iowa (19), Massachusetts (20), Minnesota (19), Montana (19), Nebraska (20), New Hampshire (20), Tennessee (19), Texas (19), West Virginia (19), Wisconsin (19), and Wyom- ing (19). That’s how it is in our neighbor- ing country. They’re just as crazy. The other change I'd make is that kids couldn't drive until they turned 19! We'd save a lot of lives. New at Gulliver’s! and Holder’ For a more secure feeling. Fits comfortably around wrists to help adults and children stay together. Velcro® -like closure for easy fastening. Use when shopping, going for a walk or in a crowd for extra security. Mail Order Box 181 - Port Moody V3H 3Et Opening soon Downtown: Sinciatr Centre Richmond Centre N. Park Royal 276-2606 922-9650 Be Careful with Fire in the Forest B.C. 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