To the editor:
I read the well-intended editorial on Page 4A of Tuesday's edition ("Remember: Teens, alcohol don't mix.") I, respectfully, would like to offer another opinion, perhaps something to ponder.
About four months out of every year I work in Europe, primarily in Austria and Germany. Their approach to teenage drinking is different. Their legal drinking age is 16, however, their legal driving age is 18. Perhaps there is something to teaching them to drink "intelligently" first and then to drive? I have a picture of a sign I took at a restaurant in Vienna, Austria. Translated, it reads, "To youth under 16 years (old) will no alcohol be served!"
Like in the U.S., the primary responsibility is with the parents. But the fact is that the fatality rate on highways in the U.S. is 2½ times higher than Germany.
The citizens of the United States learned 100 years ago that prohibition doesn't work. That's why in 1933 Prohibition was repealed. Proverbs 9:17. Perhaps a more rational educational approach will work better than our parochial prohibition.
Peter M. Sontag
Steubenville