Middletown adopts house party ordinance BY DAN NEWMAN Staff Writer "This will be used as a tool to prevent house parties and the underage drinking that occurs at these parties from taking place." - Robert Oches Township Police Chief MIDDLETOWN - The Township Committee has unanimously approved an ordinance that would fine underage drinkers caught with alcohol at house parties. The ordinance, passed at the March 19 meeting, grants police the right to enter homes that host house parties and to hand out $250 fines to those under the age of 21 caught with alcohol. Municipal judges may also suspend a person's driver's license for six months if caught. If the person is not yet 17 years old, their license may be suspended for six months when they do turn 17. Repeat offenders may be given a $350 fine. While most in attendance last week were glad to see the ordinance passed, others were concerned about what may happen down the road. "What's stopping the cops from coming in my house, and what guidelines are in place?" asked local resident Joe Kenney. "I understand that everybody wants to cut back on underage drinking, but I think that there are privacy issues involved here." Township Police Chief Robert Oches stated that about 75 municipalities statewide have implemented some sort of ordinance concerning underage drinking and house parties. "This will be used as a tool to prevent house parties and the underage drinking that occurs at these parties from taking place," Oches said. "We want to prevent any future problems from popping up." Mayor Gerard Scharfenberger said that he and his fellow committee members have checked to make sure that, constitutionally, the ordinance is legal. "We've checked statewide and we have seen that other municipalities have already enacted something similar to what we're doing here," Scharfenberger said. "We've been lucky up to this point and so we needed to pass this." Another local resident strongly supported what the committee is trying to do. "I went away recently and when I came back, there were 40 beer cans on my property," Merion Curtiss said. "I want the committee to do anything it can to stop these parties."