Lancer I don't think you had very much fun in high school did you.

Well said, LancerM. You can have plenty of fun in high school without alcohol. The problem is with adults and parents who say everybody does it and it's just part of high school. Not everyone does it and it should not be part of high school. Adults who think otherwise are contributing to the problem. The more I have read the opinions on this subject, the more I am now thinking the Shawnee Mission policy is on track and is a serious deterent to alcohol and drug abuse.

well said Lancerlou lol, are you Mr Levastein.

Let the post die!!!!

This post should not die. It should move beyond the actions of some individuals on a single team to the larger subject of alcohol use by our teens. Why would you want to stop that discussion? Do you not see this as a problem to be dealt with? I question why some of the posters on this forum want to sweep this under the rug.

I’m not saying that these kids are hardened criminals. But, as I said in my earlier post. What could have been the effect on other people? What if the coach would have been fired for this? What if one of the kids would have been seriously injured? What if that kid that was seriously injured was your kid? Would an apology and week suspension from the activity suffice your need of fair treatment? I think you would look at this situation in a different light. I understand Nathan Furches wanting to set the record straight and I’m not aiming this at him. I’m referring to all those involved. We all know how rumors and gossip can distort the truth. I am only referring to the drinking and not the other stuff that was posted.

I have to agree with the Lancers. This is not a topic to let die. Maybe if we address it more closely and not turn our heads or slap hands we could improve things for the kids. Sometimes those who make poor choices become the sacrificial example that pave the road to better choices for others. I guess one might call this experience.

My sugestion to you then is to start a thread about the problem itself and not tie any person/school to it. It's not right to keep thrashing the same kids & school over this forum. Your concerns if the punishment was enough is not your problem. Believe me, what the school & Coach did to the kids isn't as much as the parents did, so start another post about the problem and LET THIS POST DROP!!!!

I like your technique wrasslinfan. You can't think of something worthwhile to counter the arguments, so you attack the people behind them. Very classy.

As a care provider for at risk kids, 4 of whom wrestle and the father of a 16 yr old wrestler as well, we have our own "agreed upon" death penalty in addition to the schools substance abuse policy.

No need to worry about any school sanction, it happens with my guys and they are done, no wiggle room or questions asked.

That is my choice for setting a tolerance level. I don't disagree with any of the handling of the Derby situation at all. I do think we have to be careful saying well "everyone does it," That is not true nor does it make anything more acceptable.

Come on Lancern I was just kidding don't get your panties in a bunch, but this is stupid what you think this is gonna keep one kid from drinking or anything else this is america and if some kids want to drink a beer or chew whatever thats there right yeah you can get in trouble for it but thats the choice you make and they don't need wanna be preachers like you speaking the word for everyone else so worry about your self and yours and all is good. So how you like that technique

Obviously there always needs to be a punishment to a violation of any team rule. But seriously who in there right mind believes that if you kick a kid off of a team for drinking alcohol. He/she is going to look in the mirror and go "wow I learned my lesson." No 99.9% of them will keep doing it

first of all i dont think giving these kids a second chance is sweeping the problem under the rug. second of all i dont believe having a stiff policy prevents kids from drinking. i really dont believe those derby kids said, "we'll only get suspended a week if we get caught so what the hell" i think they thought they simply werent going to be caught. as is true with every kid who drinks and parties. i know of a lot of kids who partied hard all through highschool and never got caught so theres some fairly good reason for that thinking. the only thing that makes a kid really believe they will get caught is actually getting caught. and if that getting caught means they are done, they have no incentive to change there actions. i dont believe policies keep kids from drinking. i think the vast majority of the kids who do not drink at all do so because of a personal moral decision, not some policy. also people are saying these kids got off lightly. and no, the school didnt hammer them as hard as it probably could have. but Nathan Furches did not get off lightly. hes been publicly called out and embarrassed, and while thats the price of being a stud sometimes, its still not right. most of our mistakes dont have that consequence. so whether or not he got off lightly is a matter of how you look at it. i personally believe through this ordeal this is the last time we will have an incident like this involving Nathan. and if the penalty changes behavior then whats wrong with it?

Very well said!!!

The bottom line is this, there is a problem across america with teens drinking. It did not just happening in Derby. Derby is just the stage that it's played on and we as adults must address the issues through education, love and reflection of our teen years. If one would take the time and visit some of the websites (myspace.com, facebook.com just to name a couple)that your kids visit it would be known how wide spread this problem is and the merit badge it it hold for students. Do not get me wrong, I'm not saying students should give into their peers and drink, I am saying that we as adult must address the drinking issues as a whole and hope of changing the negative images multi media (MTV, BET, Rap industry etc...)are providing our students. Finally, ask yourself this one question, How many times after an event you visited a bar/resturant for a sandwich and saw a family (with kids) ordering food and the parents are drinking a mixed drink or a beer? I know I'm guilty of this or when your kids watch Nick day and night and you took them to a live show and you saw dad order a beer for himself and coke for that kid, the message that the kid may have witiness was, I need a drink to enjoy myself. I guess it time to stop focus on Derby and place emphasis on the big picture HS drinking in general and what we are willing to do to address the issues?

I was off this topic and the forum for several days. When I returned to the topic, I noticed that several people had posted the same thought that you expressed above that it is time to take the focus off the Derby situation and instead start a topic that would addrees the big picture in general on high school drinking. That is why today I decided to introduce another topic on Alcohol First Time Offense - Proper Punishment? Perhaps this is a topic where people who would like to continue to discuss this important subject in general could focus their ideas on this topic.

I agree with you and others that enough has probably been said about this particular Derby situation. I am sure that the Derby officials will handle the infractions fairly according to their policies that they had in place at the time of the infraction and I think that is proper.