For the second weekend in a row,  teens have been caught drinking in Edgemont by the police. Most recently, on Saturday, September 24 at 7:30 pm. the Greenburgh Police Department received a complaint that several teenagers were drinking alcoholic beverages in front of a house at 14 Scarsdale Farm Road. Members of the Greenburgh Drug and Alcohol Task Force went out with the police to investigate and found a number of young people with beer in front of the house. Police found that the youths had also consumed it. The parents of the teen who hosted the party were not home at the time of the incident.

As a result, six teenagers, all sixteen years-old were issued a summons for “Possession of Alcohol by a Person Under the Age of 21”, Section 65-c of the Alcohol and Beverage Control law. They were released at the scene to the custody of their parents or guardians and court dates are scheduled for October at Town of Greenburgh Court.

According to Lt. Brian J. Ryan, Public Information Officer for the Greenburgh Police, police were not out looking for underage drinkers at the time, but were required to investigate the complaint. Along with the Greenburgh Drug and Alcohol Task Force, police are pro-active in enforcing the law. Based on his experience, the punishment for those with no prior record is usually education and community service.

Parents were divided in their reaction to this latest incident. Some were not surprised that the teens were gathered at this particular home and felt that when parents fail to supervise their children the police should step in. One mom speculated, “What could have happened if one of these kids got behind the wheel of a car?” Others were critical of the police and thought they should be concentrating on catching the burglars that have been a problem in the neighborhood for the past few years, instead of breaking up drinking parties. Still others said that the school should be more proactive about educating students on the dangers of teenage drinking.

Commenting on the two incidents, Edgemont’s Bob Bernstein said, "Underage drinking has been taking place in suburban communities for decades, and Edgemont is no exception. It's just that high tech communication being what it is today, Edgemont kids can get together very quickly in a very large group and not go unnoticed. We as parents must therefore reinforce what our kids are taught in school: underage drinking, even in the privacy of your own home, is illegal; an arrest and conviction could put your future in jeopardy; binge drinking can be fatal; and drinking and driving can make you a danger to others as well as yourself. That said, every town and village in Westchester County offers programs and facilities for teens so that there's always a safe and alcohol-free place for kids to "hang out" after an event, like a big football game. But we in Edgemont have nothing like that, and that's wrong. Scarsdale has a very successful teen center, Greenburgh's villages each have programs for their own teens, but even though we pay for it, Greenburgh only provides teen programs for those in the northern part of the town. These programs don't stop teenage drinking, of course, but they do offer kids a reasonable alternative to avoid the peer pressure that starts the moment "instant messages" lead to "instant partying."