ALCOHOL RETAILERS CHECKED

      ALCOHOL COMPLIANCE CHECKS CONDUCTED IN SOMERSET COUNTY

February 19, 2016

(Somerset County, MD) On Wednesday, February 17, 2016, troopers from the Maryland State Police and officers from the Princess Anne Police Department conducted a collaborative effort and performed numerous alcohol compliance checks at retail establishments in Somerset County.

Law enforcement officers throughout Somerset County ensured that various retail establishments which hold a Somerset County Liquor License are denying sales of alcoholic beverages to persons under the age of 21 years old.

A total of 18 retail establishments were checked.  The following retail establishments complied with the provisions of the law and denied the sale of alcoholic beverage to minors:

• Arby’s General Store, Wenona, Maryland
• Brew Thru, Crisfield, Maryland
• Eden Quick Stop, Eden, Maryland
• Junior’s Stop and Shop, Princess Anne, Maryland
• Kash and Karry, Princess Anne, Maryland
• Oscar’s Bar and Grill, Princess Anne, Maryland
• Peaky’s Restaurant, Princess Anne, Maryland
• Goose Creek, Princess Anne, Maryland
• Somer’s Cove Market, Crisfield, Maryland
• Spike’s Pub and Subs, Princess Anne, Maryland
• Dash Inn, Westover, Maryland
• Goose Creek, Westover, Maryland
• Crisfield Oceanic, Crisfield, Maryland
• Shore Stop, Crisfield, Maryland
• King’s Creek Market, Princess Anne, Maryland
• 
  

The following retail establishments were not in compliance with the provisions of the law and sold alcoholic beverages to a minor:

• Somerset County Liquor Dispensary, Princess Anne, Maryland
• Becky’s Market, Princess Anne, Maryland
• Lucky’s Last Chance, Chance, Maryland
• 
  

The establishments which sold alcoholic beverages will be required to appear before the Somerset County Liquor Board and face possible sanctions from that board. The individuals who sold alcoholic beverages to a person under the age of 21 years old will be required to appear in the District Court of Maryland for Somerset County for selling an alcoholic beverage to a person under the age of 21 years old.

In an effort to reduce the access of alcoholic beverages to minors, Troopers and Officers will continue with unannounced compliance checks to ensure that alcoholic beverages stay out of the hands of minors.  With homecoming activities going on at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, St. Patrick’s Day, and Washington High School and Crisfield High School’s proms right around the corner, law enforcement will be making a collaborative effort to ensure the safety of our youth.  After the compliance checks were conducted, establishments were provided with educational literature which can be used to help them determine the authenticity of identification documents.  This collaborative effort amongst law enforcement partners will continue throughout the year in an effort to keep everyone safe.

Funding for this initiative was provided by the Somerset County Local Management Board Inc.

Teens Alcohol Drinking Problems Could Be Found On Facebook

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - College students' Facebook pages might hold clues to which of them are at risk for alcohol dependence and abuse, according to a new study.

Researchers found that students who had pictures or posts about getting drunk or blacking out were more likely to be at risk of drinking problems, based on a screening test. That was not necessarily the case for students who mentioned alcohol or drinking on their pages, but not in a way that showed that they drank too much or in unhealthy situations.

It's possible that Facebook pages could help schools find out who needs to be assessed for alcohol-related problems -- although privacy and ethical concerns might make that complicated, researchers said.

The question is whether "what's being found on these sites... is actually predictive of clinical conditions," said Dr. James Niels Rosenquist, a social media researcher and psychiatrist from Massachusetts General Hospital who wasn't involved in the new study.

The findings suggest that messages on Facebook sites do seem to be linked to what happens in the "real world," he told Reuters Health.

Dr. Megan Moreno from the University of Wisconsin-Madison led a team of researchers from her university and the University of Washington in Seattle who surveyed the Facebook pages, including photos and posts, of 224 undergrads with publicly-available profiles.

About two-thirds of those students had no references to alcohol or drinking on their pages. The rest of the pages mentioned or had pictures of social, non-problematic drinking or more serious and risky alcohol use, including riding in a car while drunk or getting in trouble related to drinking.

The researchers brought all the students in for a 10-question screening test used to determine who is at risk for problem drinking. That test assesses the frequency of drinking and binge drinking as well as negative consequences from alcohol use.

Close to six in ten of the students whose Facebook pages had references to drunkenness and other dangerous drinking scored above the cutoff showing a risk for alcohol abuse and dependence, as well as other drinking-related problems.

That compared to 38 percent of students who had more minor references to alcohol and 23 percent of those who didn't mention alcohol or drinking at all, according to findings published in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

In addition, close to one in five Facebook-implicated risky drinkers said they had an alcohol-related injury in the previous year.

Moreno and her colleagues proposed that peer leaders such as residential assistants could be trained to use Facebook to see who is at risk for problem drinking, and refer those students to get screening. Or, parents and administrators could talk to a school's counselors if they were worried about alcohol-related content on a student's page.

"You might have someone who, if they write in a Facebook posting about being drunk... that might be a red flag," Rosenquist told Reuters Health.

But, he added, with social media "you get very small snapshots into people's lives," so perusing Facebook pages alone might not be enough to see who needs to be screened for alcohol problems.

And there are other concerns as well, he said, including how appropriate it is to go scouting on students' pages for certain information.

Moreno said that a college RA already has a connection with students and is there to look out for them -- and this study is showing that "there is some legitimacy in approaching students that you're worried about," including if that worry is coming from Facebook posts.

But, she added, "Paying attention to people's privacy concerns is really big."

Moreno suggested that universities could have links to the health center or to online screening tests show up as Facebook advertisements for students who use terms such as "blacked out" on their pages.

"With the targeted messaging, there's not that (feeling) that someone you don't know is creeping on your profile," she told Reuters Health.

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/oPnFuO Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, online October 3, 2011.

Source;  http://www.wtkr.com/lifestyle/sns-rt-us-drunk-facebooktre79266y-20111003,0,2308676.story

A "Stay Sober" Pill?

Next time you get a little too drunk, blame it on your immune system, not so much on the alcohol.

New research from the University of Adelaide highlights that alcohol affects an immune response in the brain, whose cells affect muscles that control walking and talking, according to a recent study published in the British Journal of Pharmacology on Sept. 28.

Scientists already knew alcohol affects nerve cells in the brain; the findings suggest our response to alcohol is both neuronal and immunological.

And a new 'stay sober pill' might be on its way to curb the negative effects of alcohol on a person's behavior. A pill, researchers say, that could benefit binge drinkers and alcoholics, The Herald Sun reports.

Initial tests on mice show that mice that were given alcohol and the pill, which essentially turns off the immune response, did not display signs of drunkenness, the study states.

Mice that were genetically altered to automatically block the receptors also had reduced responses to the liquor.

"Medications targeting Toll-like receptor 4 may prove beneficial in treating alcohol dependence and acute overdoses," Dr. Mark Hutchinson, the study's lead researcher, stated in a press release.

Knowing that the receptors are responsible for how the body reacts "could help detect the people at greater risk to develop brain damage from drinking," FOX News reports.

The findings might explain why people react differently to the same amount of alcohol, The Telegraph points out.

"It's amazing to think that despite 10,000 years of using alcohol, and several decades of investigation into the way that alcohol affects the nerve cells in our brain, we are still trying to figure out exactly how it works," Hutchinson said in a statement.

Source;  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/29/stay-sober-pill-alcohol-immune-system_n_987393.html

Mother Charged With Contributing To the Delinguency of Minors

A Henrico County woman charged with 19 counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor after a New Year's Eve party at her home made an initial appearance in juvenile and domestic relations court today.
Judge Margaret Deglau scheduled an April 4 trial for Susan Lambert Hoback-Tweardy, 43, and ordered her not to have any contact with the juveniles who are the subject of the charges against her.

Deglau made an exception for Hoback-Tweardy's sons after the defendant told the judge that the two were among the 19.

Hoback-Tweardy was ordered not to use any alcohol pending the trial. She faces a maximum punishment of up to 12 months in jail on each charge.

She appeared in court without a lawyer but said she plans to hire counsel.

Hoback-Tweardy was arrested Tuesday after police were summoned minutes before midnight Dec. 31 to a residence in the 200 block of Middle Quarter Lane south of River Road near the Country Club of Virginia's James River golf course.

It was not clear why charges were issued nearly two weeks after the incident.

Police said medical units were called to the scene because of concerns about the inebriated condition of the some of the juveniles.

www.timesdispatch.com

High-Alcohol Energy Drink Sickened Students

Oct. 25) -- Four Loko, an alcoholic beverage referred to as "blackout in a can," is the culprit behind several hospitalizations after students at a Central Washington University party overdid it on the potent elixir.

The Oct. 8 house party, which counted around 50 youth -- many of them underage -- ended with nine partygoers being taken to the hospital with symptoms of life-threatening overdose or intoxication.

Police had initially suspected that illegal substances, rather than alcohol, were to blame for the flurry of hospitalizations. All but one of those hospitalized were women, yielding concerns over date-rape drugs.
"Everything was going fine, the music was playing, people were having fun -- and then all of a sudden all the girls were puking everywhere," Katelynn Allen, a student at the party, told KOMO News. "Girls were outside on their backs."

Those girls can thank Four Loko for their infirmity. The drink, which comes in several flavors, is one serious beverage -- and one that invites competitive imbibing sessions.

Trying to consume four of the brews is a popular goal among young drinkers, and one that usually ends early.

With 12 percent alcohol and an added caffeine boost, swilling three Loko beverages is akin to drinking 18 beers, according to estimates from Dr. Mike Reihart, a Pennsylvania doctor.

Indeed, the alcohol content of Four Loko is reflected in the blood alcohol levels of Roslyn, Wash., partygoers. They ranged from 0.12 percent to 0.35 percent.

The Food and Drug Administration is already keeping careful tabs on caffeinated alcoholic beverages like Four Loko. Earlier this year, the agency sent warning letters to several companies and is investigating the risks associated with a caffeine-alcohol combo.

But doctors are already raising a red flag about the precarious combination of caffeine (a stimulant) and alcohol (a depressant).

"When people combine the two, they tend to not feel the alcohol as much since the caffeine is keeping them more alert," Dr. Alissa Rumsey told the New York Daily News. "Yet when the caffeine wears off, then the person feels the full effects of the alcohol."
www.aolnews.com

DUI Arrest From Vanilla Extract

(Arlington, TN 7/8/2010) 48-year-old Kelly Moss appears has a $4,000 bond for after being arrested on a DUI charge.

Sam Palmer saw it happen.

"It was jumped up over the curb. She had driven it up on the curb. In fact I went to see if she had hit the telephone pole. She hadn't hit that, but she had both wheels on the curb," says Palmer.

Police say Moss had a strong odor of vanilla on her breath and was unsteady on her feet.

They found a nearly empty bottle of vanilla extract and a partially empty bottle of diet coke in her car as well as a receipt for two 8oz. bottle of extract.

The vanilla extract is 35% alcohol.

Moss was arrested.
Sam Palmer doesn't know her, but as a recovering alcoholic, he knows abusers find ways to get their drug.

"Mouthwash, Geritol, Robitussin," says Palmer.

As a drug addiction counselor, Dr. Carolyn Bryant has seen it too.

"Instead of the drug that may be their drug of choice, that may be they have been arrested for or got in trouble about, they take something that will give them that same effect," says Bryant.

She counsels women to admit their problem and seek help.

"I hope she gets in a treatment program or a 12 step program," says Palmer. "She could have hit a telephone pole, could have wiped somebody else out."

This was Kelly Moss' third DUI arrest. No one answered the door at her Germantown home when we stopped by.

She will be back in court August 19th.

www.wreg.com