07March
Cultures of Intoxication
In the late 1970s, I was a copyboy at the New York Daily News and the Yankees were in the World Series. Another copyboy and I cadged a couple of press passes, went down to the local saloon (as was our custom) for a few belts, then bought tallboys for the subway ride to the stadium. When we got on the elevator headed to the press club (and more booze), my friend was holding an open can of beer. Phil Rizzuto, the Yankees Hall of Fame shortstop who had become a broadcaster, was already inside. He took one look at my buddy, who no doubt was pie-eyed, and said something like, "In all my years at Yankee Stadium, I've never seen something like this. A can of beer in the elevator. Harumph."
I remember thinking at the time, "Holy cow, Scooter. Where the hell have you been? Never seen an open can of beer in Yankee Stadium before?"
For quite some time, professional ball parks have been havens for drunk and disorderly conduct. I think that things have improved in recent years, thanks mostly to pressure brought by fans who would like to watch a game without feeling that they'll wind up in the middle of a brawl, or have a supersized cup of beer dumped on their heads — wittingly or unwittingly. Not to mention lawsuits.
Dave Anderson writes about a lawsuit in today's New York Times that's a heartbreaker (you have to be a Times Select subscriber to read it, so I won't bother linking).
A 9-year-old girl is a quadriplegic as the result of accident caused by a driver who drank beer before, during, and after a game at Giants Stadium in New Jersey. His blood alcohol level was measured at more than three times the legal limit.
It is estimated that the girl's lifetime care will cost $75 million. Her family sued Aramark, which runs the concessions at Giants Stadium and many other sports sites. In 2005, a jury awarded her family $105 million. Last August, a state appeals court threw out the decision, ruling that the evidence that the family's lawyers presented about "a culture of intoxication" at Giants stadium was not admissable.
Anderson writes:
“Giants/Jets Fans. Have you seen drunk fans served alcohol at the stadium? If, so, we need your help in a lawsuit in which a two-year-old girl was paralyzed by a drunk driver after he left the stadium.”
For the new trial, Antonia’s lawyers are seeking witnesses, especially current or former Aramark employees, who will testify to having seen Aramark vendors selling alcohol to visibly intoxicated customers at Giants Stadium during Giants or Jets games. By order of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, alcohol sales there must end three minutes into the third quarter.
Through the late Nineties, I'd attend at least a couple of Giants games every year with my father-in-law. I wish I could help. I know the "culture of intoxication" exists because I was a part of it more than 20 years ago. And there were more than a few drunken fans at the games I attended (but not as many as at the few Jets games I've gone to.) But I couldn't swear to having seen Aramark vendors selling alcohol to visibly intoxicated customers. And I also wonder about the liability of the places the defendant drank before and after (a strip club) the game.
I hope the girl gets enough money to enable her to reach her full potential — she claims to be the best times-table student in her grade. More broadly, I hope the case reinforces the message that people who allow others to get drunk — whether it's a parent who condones a teenage party in the home or a bartender who serves up one too many for the road — also have to take responsibility for the aftermath.
Support the Wellstone Parity Act
Deirdre and I testified at the congressional field hearing on parity for mental and addictive disorders in Manhattan last Friday. You can read our testimony by clicking here.
It was good to reconnect with some people we've met in the trenches during the battle in New York for Timothy's Law, particularly Tom O'Clair, whose 12-year-old son, Timothy, hung himself exactly six years before the day of the hearing.
Tom revealed that his father, who died three weeks ago, had been in recovery for 22 years. He vowed, as he has in the past, to keep fighting until chemical dependency is included in New York's legislation — and asked the congressmen present to make sure that any federal legislation would not undo what has been done in the states that have already passed strong parity bills.
All of the speakers were excellent, but we were preaching to the converted. We've got to get the word out to people to contact their federal legislators — particularly senators — about the importance of this legislation. The bill in the Senate is much, much weaker than the House bill sponsored by Reps. Jim Ramstad (R-MN) and Patrick Kennedy (D-RI).
The New York Times covered the differences between the two bills in a story last Monday, March 19.
The House version of the bill is called the Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act (H.R. 1424).
Ramstad and Kennedy were at the hearing with chairman Charles Rangel (D-NY). Ramstad and Kennedy spoke quite eloquently not only about their own recoveries but also about the need to provide access to treatment to people who are not as well off as they are. Rep. Rangel, as chair of the Ways and Means committee, virtually assured the audience that the bill would get to the House floor, but that's the easy part of the battle.
For further information and updates, bookmark this page at Faces and Voices of Recovery.
Other blog items about parity:
Subscribe to the Elephant on Main weblog
Visit the Elephant on Main Street website