MD Stiffens Penalties for Parties

By Morgan Hill ’16

Spurred by the parents of two Wootton students killed in a drunk driving crash last summer, a Maryland Senate committee has voted to move forward with “Alex and Calvin’s Bill,” a measure that will impose jail time on adults who provide alcohol to minors or knowingly host parties where underage drinking takes place.

The current penalty for adults who host underage drinking parties is solely a fine, $500 for each citation issued to a minor under that adult’s watch. The bill, if enacted, will not only impose jail time, but will also increase the fine to $5,000 for the first offense. Under this bill, adults who host these parties will, in addition to the fine, serve one year of jail time for the first offense and pay a fine of $7,500 with two years of jail time for each subsequent offense.

Wootton 2015 graduates Alex Murk and Calvin Li, the bill’s namesake, were killed last June after their friend Samuel Ellis drove drunk with a blood alcohol content of .08 and tested positive for drugs. Kenneth Saltzman, the party’s host, did not provide the party-goers with alcohol, but acknowledged that underage drinking was happening at the party. “We’re not seeing change in the community … as we try to make sense of his death,” Li’s father said.