| METRO NEWS | TODAY • August 18, 2000 |
 | |
|
| ||||||
Gwinnett County police want to know who supplied alcohol to at least 40 partyers.
Duane D. Stanford - Staff
Friday, August 18, 2000
At least 40 Gwinnett County teenagers face charges for alcohol possession after a keg bash last week where a Shiloh High School student was partying before she ran her car off the road and died.
The youths, between 15 and 19, will go to court Oct. 24 on the misdemeanor charge. At worst, they could lose their licenses for six months under recent changes to the state's driving laws for teenagers.
Police say such mass busts are rare.
"Typically neighbors will find out about it and call, and that's how we find out about it," said Gwinnett police Maj. Dan Bruno.
Investigators now want to know who supplied two "pony" kegs and two coolers filled with spiked "hunch punch" for the end of the summer house party.
"We hope someone's going to have the common decency to rat those people out," said Gwinnett police Lt. Brett West, who added there could be additional charges.
Police want to know whether the host's mother knew the children were drinking. Rosie Marks told police she wasn't home and knew nothing about the alcohol. Marks was unavailable for comment.
The two-story suburban home on Riveredge Cove where the kids were cited is in a middle-class neighborhood off Ga. 124 in south Gwinnett, near the DeKalb County line.
Police charged everyone at the Aug. 11 party, whether they were caught drinking or not.
The bust came down after police responded to a one-car accident on Juhan Road near Yellow River Park, a few miles from the party.
Kirby Cruce, 16, lost control of her mother's Toyota as she sped around a curve on the winding and hilly road on her way home to make her midnight curfew. Her driver's license was 4 days old.
Kirby's car slammed into an embankment and rolled onto its hood, crushing her upper body, which hung out the window.
Investigators determined Kirby was wearing her lap belt, but she had put the shoulder strap behind her.
"Everytime we got in the car, she'd put it back there," recalled Kirby's mother, Sherry Mowell. "I was always like, 'Kirby, that's there for a reason.' "
Police could not say whether Kirby was intoxicated. They are waiting for blood tests.
Her brother, Matthew Mowell, and a family friend, Chris Gaines, both said they saw Kirby drinking at the party, but they didn't know how much she had or when. Both boys were among those charged at the party.
"To be honest, I don't think a lot of people have thought about it right now," Gaines said of the charges. "Kirby's death has pretty much taken over everything."
But Gaines said he doesn't believe he and his friends should lose their
licenses. "We've learned our lesson though the death of Kirby," he said.