Oxford News

As parents flock to visit their college-age children each year and are immersed in the drinking culture of campus communities, some not only condone drinking to excess, but provide the alcohol or set an example of overindulgence.

Bar owners, police officers, other visiting parents and students frequently tell tales of embarrassing and sometimes illegal behavior by parents at pubs, fraternities and sororities near campuses.

In Ohio, a person must be 21 to purchase alcohol. But it's legal for a younger college student to drink alcohol, if a parent or guardian buys it and is present when the student drinks the beer, wine or hard liquor.

According to Sgt. Jim Squance of the Oxford Police Department, this can create a host of troubles, as adults cannot purchase alcohol for their children's friends.

"We have parents who come in and try to buy rounds of drinks for their kids and their friends," he said. "You can't do this, and bar owners are expected to police their establishment."

"When parents come in and want to buy drinks for their kids or their kids' friends, they take the responsibility. But a manager will tell them about the law, since most parents are from out of town," said Jeremiah Robuck, manager at 45 East, a bar and restaurant in Oxford.

Natalie Rheault, 22, a former student at Miami University, said that when her mother came to visit, she would usually just take her friends out to dinner — without buying them alcohol.

The parents of some of her friends, though, would act much differently.

"I thought the idea of it was fun but also a little inappropriate, especially considering we were all under age," she said. "I think it's OK once you are 21 to have a few drinks here and there with your kid, but to actually try to go out and be cool is just stupid."

During a fraternity's Dad's Weekend a couple of years ago, Rheault was faced with a surprising and uncomfortable situation with a friend and his father. "His father tried to hook up with me when he was drunk, which was absolutely crazy, " she said.

Holly Goldin has visited her son, a senior finance major at Miami, seven or eight times. "When I visited freshman year ... virtually all of the moms were having a drink or two — but some of them were really very drunk," she said. "Not nasty drunk behavior, but silly drunk."

"I visited my daughter three times in Oxford," said Carol Lydy, whose daughter graduated from Miami last year. "Pub crawls aren't my thing at all, but I did drink more than I normally would because that's part of the atmosphere, it's part of the activity."

"I think students are more responsible when their parents are with them," said Andy Amarantos, who has owned Skipper's Pub in Oxford with his brother since 1984.

But police say drunken driving and public intoxication arrests sometimes rise when parents are in town.

"We've had many instances where we're busier on parents weekends than we usually are," said Squance.

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