Call For Crackdown On Adults Giving Booze To Minors

An emotional appeal from a central Missouri mom who lost her daughter to drunk driving just more than a year ago. Theresa Lamm’s 15-year-old daughter was killed in a drunk driving accident near Tipton on Valentines Day, 2004. Two other youths in the car, including the driver who was drunk, died in the crash. Three other teenagers in the vehicle were seriously injured, but survived. While Lamm acknowledges what her daughter did was wrong, she says the adults who bought the alcohol for the youths were wrong as well. Since buying alcohol for a minor is just a misdemeanor, law enforcement is not pursuing the case. Lamm says that has to change. Lamm made the comments at a victims’ rights ceremony at the Capitol. Attorney General Jay Nixon agrees with Lamm. Nixon is not sure anything short of legislative action will solve the problem. But he says if that’s what it takes, he’ll do everything he can to help new laws through.