The Marin Lawyer. The Marin Lawyer. An Official Publication of the County Bar Association An Official Publication of the Marin County Bar Association

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1 The Lawyer The Marin Lawyer An Official Publication of the County Bar Association An Official Publication of the Marin County Bar Association December 2007 Volume 38, Issue 12 In This Issue Law and Balanced Life...2 Court Website... 3 Spotlight on Neil Sorensen... 4 MCBA Standing Committee... 5 Volunteer for a State Bar Committee... 6 Attention Criminal Attorneys... 6 Annual Holiday Party... 7 MCLE Compliance Deadline New Members/Change of Scene The Marketplace PRESIDENT S MESSAGE State of the Association By Jeffrey H. Lerman In this, the final President s Message of my term, it has been the custom for my predecessors to recap and do a year in review. However, since this is the end of the first year of the MCBA three-year Strategic Plan, I thought a State of the Association report might be more appropriate. Because this should not be just a rose-colored glasses look-back at what has been accomplished during my tenure, but rather a clear-eyed evaluation of where MCBA stands in its implementation of its new Strategic Plan. The State of the Association is strong, yet with much room for improvement. On December 3, 2006, MCBA embarked upon the creation of its Strategic Plan. Over the ensuing months the skeleton was fleshed out in a detailed matrix setting forth MCBA s long-range vision, goals, definitions of success, action items, next steps, responsibilities, time frame and status report and comments (see President s Message - The Matrix Reloaded, April 2007 at pages 2, 10-14). Over the months that followed, the Board has been developing benchmarks to gauge MCBA s progress over the next (Continued on page 8.) THE SOCIAL HOST ORDINANCE By Jack Govi, Assistant County Counsel* Assistant County Counsel Jack Govi is the author of Marin County s now-famous Social Host Ordinance, which deals with the problem of underage drinking. In this article, Jack shares his insight into what the Ordinance is, why it was adopted, and how it has been working. What is the Social Host Ordinance? Calendar of Events December 1 st Annual Board Retreat 9:30 am - 4 pm December 11 th Family Law Section Holiday Party RSVP to David Block pm McInnis Park December 12 th Holiday Party : The Marin County Bar Association cordially invites you to attend our Holiday Party Dec. 12 from 5:30 pm - 7:30 pm. Location: The Board Room, 1120 Nye Street, 3rd Flr., San Rafael (Please call if you need directions) With Beverages, Spirits and Appetizers generously provided by: The Law Offices of Rowland & Chambers The Law Offices of Krause & Baskin Eric Sternberger, Attorney at Law Join us for some holiday cheer! NO COST Please RSVP via to jsalas@30nsp.org Look for details each month in The Marin Lawyer Renee Giacomini Brewer was guest editor of this issue of The Marin Lawyer. Philip R. Diamond is Series Editor for Simply put, the Social Host Ordinance is Marin County s attempt to address the crucial (Continued on page 11.)

2 LAW AND THE BALANCED LIFE: Are They Compatible? By Stephen H. Sulmeyer, J.D., Ph.D.* "If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you." The Gospel According to Thomas Having a balanced life requires that we find an inner refuge within the hurricane of daily life, impregnable to the events of both our outer and inner worlds. It s not about making room for exercise, or a date night once a week with your spouse, although that can be part of it. Meaningful balance is about creating a refuge within ourselves of peace, solace, relaxation, and deep meaningfulness, where we get to be truly ourselves, to truly relax, to feel supported and nurtured and safe. It is the place inside where we know without doubt, here I cannot be harmed. True balance is about freedom from domination by external and internal events not only our cases and clients, our deadlines and task-lists and billable hours, but also our self-doubts, our fears, and the attacks of our inner critic. The problem is that we tend to be consumed by our focus on particular inner or outer events (or both), and often end up feeling under siege or overwhelmed. The inner abode is a constant, living reminder that we are more than a puppet reacting to events; that we are not actually in danger; that we are never truly disconnected from the inner peace that is the source of our strength and well-being. Balance doesn t mean dissociating from the inner and outer forces that assail us, but rather transcending them and their effects on us. We all yearn for this freedom, not because we all seek escape necessarily, but because the self-mastery this freedom requires is part of our provenance as mature human beings. The work of creating the inner refuge, in other words, is the work of personal growth. this urge to grow, is present in all living things. In Sanskrit it is referred to as moksha, in Western psychology it has been called the drive toward individuation or selfactualization. It is the natural, evolutionary drive that impels the acorn to become an oak tree, and that impels the individual human being to develop in a way that best expresses the natural predilections and uniqueness of that individual. Only by following the call to growth that emerges from the depths of our being can we find balance. The alternative is stagnation, arrested development, a state of meaninglessness, malaise, emptiness, deadness however well or poorly we might try to hide such a state from ourselves. For many of us, the challenge presented by the individuation drive has to do with making the leap from our adolescent self to our adult self. To grossly oversimplify the situation, most of us have personalities that are in essence a series of maturational accretions layered on top of a foundation that was set in place in high school and college. Many of us are, in other words, seasoned adolescents masquerading as adults and many of us feel that way, at least some of the time. This adolescent self contains within it unexamined dynamics from our earliest years, including what I call the deficient self (Continued on page 13.) What this implies is that the only meaningful way to have a balanced life is to address our fundamental need to grow as human beings. That is, balance requires that we accept life s invitation to grow up into the mature human beings we are capable of being. This invitation, 2

3 BRINGING THE COURT S WEBSITE INTO THE 21 ST CENTURY By Kim Turner, Executive Officer, Marin County Superior Court It s time to share some encouraging news about the Court s website. Former Bar President Dan Harris and attorneys Sara Allman and Steve Nielsen surveyed many of you last year to find out what was missing on our current website. Then, they met with my staff and me to give us a wish list of features that you would find helpful. While improvements to the current format have taken more time to complete than we would have liked, we believe you will find recent changes helpful and proposed changes even more beneficial. Our website enhancements are being rolled out in three phases. Phase I improvements were completed several months ago and include a civil, family law, probate, small claims only court calendar view and civil and probate tentative rulings over the internet. You may access these features from the Court s home page or through the individual web pages for court calendar and tentative rulings. Phase II enhancements are recently completed and available on the website now. They are showcased in new links on the Court s home page. They include: On-line index, available for all cases that are not confidential or sealed (excluding traffic cases). You may use our on-line search feature to locate cases listed in our public index. You may search by case name, case number, party name, date filed or case type. This new feature may save you a trip into the courthouse. Judicial department assignments, reflecting each department s assignment and schedule in a typical week. It includes trial call and law and motion days, specialty court calendars, preliminary hearing days, and certain probate and juvenile calendars. This schedule also gives you contact information for the department s court reporter. On-line transcript requests that allow you to contact staff court reporters directly, by , without going through the court reporter coordinator. If you need a transcript from a pro tem reporter, you must continue to contact the court reporter coordinator to forward those requests to non-staff reporters. (Continued on page 15.) Look for your invitation in the mail The Marin County Bar Association cordially invites you to the 2008 Installation Dinner honoring President Edward S. Berberian and the Officers and Directors for 2008 Master of Ceremonies, Paula Kamena Swearing-in of Officers and Directors by the Honorable William Stephens (Ret.) Saturday, January 12, :00 p.m. Social Hour ~ Dinner 7:00 p.m. Mill Valley Community Center 180 Camino Alto Mill Valley, California R.S.V.P. by December 28, 2007 Cocktail attire - Old Hollywood Benefiting the Jeanette Prandi Children s Center 3

4 MEET YOUR DIRECTORS SPOTLIGHT ON NEIL SORENSEN The Marin Lawyer decided that it would be a good idea to let the MCBA membership get to know a little more about the MCBA Directors whom they elected, and who give so much to make the MCBA a great, vibrant, organization. To that end, The Marin Lawyer will run a series of articles, each focusing on a different MCBA Director or Officer. This month, our spotlight is on Board Member Neil Sorensen. The Marin Lawyer: What is your practice area? Neil Sorensen: I practice real estate and land use law. TML: Do you have a particular niche? NS: I spend a good deal of time representing property owners in all phases of the land development entitlement process, including CEQA compliance (environmental impact reports), subdivision approvals, local agency proceedings and litigation related to those areas. I also seem to get involved in quite a few boundary line and easement disputes. Finally, I do general real estate transaction work representing buyers and sellers. TML: Why did you decide to become a lawyer? NS: The law is a second career for me. My undergraduate degree is in environmental planning and prior to becoming a lawyer I worked for Los Angeles County and Marin County for a total of about 8 years in the areas of land use and environmental planning. As part of the local planning process I had the chance to work closely with several well respected lawyers, such as Al Bianchi and Lee Jordan. I respected their work and decided to go back to law school with the idea that I would practice land use law. Here I am 22 years later. NS: I blame it on my wife, Pam. She is a native Marinite. Seriously, I grew up in Santa Rosa, and ended up working here in the late 1970s for the County of Marin. It is a beautiful place to live and raise a family. TML: What do you love to do when you re not busy practicing law? NS: I love the outdoors; bike riding, snow skiing, hiking, anything outdoors. I also enjoy working with my hands: woodworking or believe it or not home improvement projects. It is very relaxing for me. I also spend a lot of time with my family. All my children have been very involved in sports, so Pam and I spend much of our free time attending sporting events. TML: Tell us about your family. NS: Pam and I have been married for 25 years. We have three children: a daughter and two sons. Our daughter, Stacey, is a senior at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Clay is a sophomore at UC Santa Cruz, and our youngest, Nate, is a senior in High School. TML: If you could pursue any other career besides law, what would it be and why? NS: I would develop and build houses. Like I said, I enjoy building things. TML: Why did you join MCBA? NS: I joined right after I started my practice in Marin 21 years ago. I felt then, and still feel, that it is a great way to meet and network with your colleagues, (Continued on page 16.) TML: Why do you live in Marin? 4

5 SIGN UP NOW TO SERVE ON AN MCBA STANDING COMMITTEE To: Members of the Marin County Bar Association From: Re: President-elect Ed Berberian The year 2008 Standing Committees Each year the Marin County Bar Association seeks members to serve on its Standing Committees. In order to maintain continuity on our committees, the president is allowed to make one appointment for a three-year term to each Committee, and to name the chairperson of each Committee for a one-year term. With this in mind, we ask you to volunteer to assist in the operation of the Marin County Bar Association. Listed below are the Standing Committees of the Association. Please mark three committees in your order of preference. If you have no preference but are willing to volunteer your services, please state so. I would particularly like to encourage anyone with an interest in bringing program speakers before the Bar membership who will engage us all in a discourse on topics that will challenge us in our professional lives. I believe it vital to have engaging public figures that will bring issues of interest to our region and local membership. The Program Committee has this opportunity and challenge so I encourage those who want to contribute to this year's program events to step forward and meet the challenge. It is my hope to make appointments to the Committee by the end of the year. Therefore, please return this form to MCBA, 30 North San Pedro Rd., Ste. 140, San Rafael, CA 94903, or for your convenience you may FAX it to MCBA at (415) no later than December 15, If you have any comments or suggestions regarding Bar activities, please do not hesitate to contact me personally or use the comment lines below to express your thoughts. I thank all our members for their continued support and service. Membership Program/Entertainment Lawyer Referral Service Legislation Library Bylaws Marin Justice Center Administration of Justice Insurance Continuing Legal Education Public Information Client Relations Law Day/Public Education Judicial Liaison (must be a Past President of MCBA) Ethics/Unauthorized Practice Name: Comments: 5

6 VOLUNTEER FOR A STATE BAR COMMITTEE! Applications for Now Available Each year the State Bar of California offers attorneys in California an opportunity to contribute to the legal profession and the public by volunteering to serve on one of the State Bar committees. This year the State Bar is recruiting applicants for 10 standing committees, 16 section executive committees, and 15 special committees, boards and commissions. The State Bar's Board of Governors appoints approximately new members every year, and strives to make appointments that will achieve diversity and broad representation of the California Legal profession. The Board also makes annual appointments to three other entities the ABA House of Delegates, the Judicial Council, and the Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation (JNE Commission). If you are interested and would like find out more about the open committee positions or you want to complete an application, go to the State Bar Web site at www. calbar.org and go to the Attorney Resources page and click on Committees and Commissions, or call the State Bar Appointments Office at You can also write to: Appointments Office, The State Bar of California 180 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA ATTENTION CRIMINAL ATTORNEYS In an effort to respond to your requests for an "attorney only" window in Dept. C-10, we have come up with a solution that we hope will satisfy you on our busy days. On Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays, when we hold Open Traffic Court, the lines in C-10 are very long in the morning. We have dedicated a window for criminal matters to relieve the long wait for those who are not at the Clerk's Office to sign up for traffic court. On Tuesdays and Wednesdays, when we are not holding Open Traffic Court, there will be no special designation for any windows and all members of the public and bar will queue up in one line. The criminal window is for defendants who are transacting business (paying fines, dropping off paperwork, etc.) on their criminal cases and for attorneys representing criminal defendants. PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS WINDOW IS AVAILABLE ONLY TO ATTORNEYS AND DEFENDANTS ON MONDAYS, TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS, as those are the only days when there is a significant wait time. Please let us know how this accommodation is working out for you. Kim Turner, Executive Officer Marin County Superior Court (415) kim_turner@marincourt.org The deadline for committee applications is February 1,

7 ANNUAL HOLIDAY PARTY THE MARIN COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION Cordially invites you to attend our Holiday Party Wednesday, December 12 5:30 7:30 The Board Room, 1120 Nye Street, Third Floor, San Rafael, California (Please Call (415) if you need directions) With Beverages, Spirits and Appetizers generously provided by: The Law Offices of Rowland & Chambers The Law Offices of Krause & Baskin Eric Sternberger, Attorney at Law Join us for some holiday cheer! No Cost Please RSVP via to: See You There! 7

8 (President s Message, continued from page 1.) two years (see President s Message - The Kaizen of the MCBA, July 2007). MCBA has made significant progress in each of its five main goals: (i) to preserve and expand MCBA membership; (ii) to foster connection and a sense of community among MCBA members; (iii) to enhance MCBA s service and visibility in the Marin community; (iv) to strengthen the bench-bar relationship, and (v) to build the Board s governance capacity and implementing the strategic plan. A brief overview follows. MCBA has preserved its membership. MCBA is holding steady at 645 members strong, and with an aging demographic that s significant. But MCBA research (thank you, MCBA Executive Director Robynn Gaspar and her assistant, Jan Salas) reveals we can do much better. According to the California State Bar website, there are 891 active State Bar members showing Marin addresses who are not MCBA members yet. Assuming that most of these are office (vs. home) addresses, that s a lot of potential new members. Of those 891, approximately 825 appear to be under the traditional retirement age of 65 (judging from their bar numbers and admission dates) and are, therefore, fair game for the many benefits MCBA membership has to offer. That s more than double our current membership. That is both good and bad news. The good: there is an abundant supply of potential MCBA members that we can tap into to grow our membership. The bad: these lawyers have most likely known about MCBA for years, some for decades, and for whatever reason have not been motivated to join MCBA and those may be tough minds to change. Even more alarming is the fact that the influx of new members, after more than doubling from 2004 to 2005, has consistently been declining by approximately 20% per year. So, MCBA has its work cut out for it going forward as it tries to attract more new members. Fortunately, Membership Chair Joel Gumbiner and his committee have completely revamped MCBA s membership benefits package (see last month s President s Message) offering new, deep discounts on services and products that lawyers already use; discounts that can yield savings that exceed the investment in MCBA membership. MCBA has fostered a connection and sense of community among its members by offering new, innovative programs to its membership and the Marin community including MCBA s Law Day inaugural commemoration entitled Parents, Teens and the Law (lauded by the Marin Independent Journal as worthy of repetition every year), 8 The Marin Lawyer its 1 st Annual Hot Topics in Law Practice Management For the Solo and Small Firm Practitioner, its 1 st Annual MCBA Golf Tournament, and its 1 st Annual Career Day entitled So, You Want To Be A (Public or Private) Lawyer or Judge or Paralegal. These events have offered new opportunities for members to connect with each other and become involved with the community. Moreover, new membership management software has been identified to enable better tracking of member participation at events to measure and compare performance from year to year. But here, too, there is room to improve. Even without the benefit of the tracking software, I have personally observed the number of members at General Membership functions and CLE meetings, and I believe that attendance, while decent, is below what I would have expected and hoped for given the caliber of the topics and world-class speakers offered. It would be better for the MCBA community if its members viewed these events not only as educational, but also as networking, business development and social opportunities, and if they turned out in greater numbers to enjoy those benefits. MCBA s service and visibility in the Marin community have also increased this year. This has been accomplished not only through two General Membership meetings focused on topics of vital interest in the local and national (Continued on page 9.)

9 (President s Message, continued from page 8.) community, Prisons on Trial - Part I (Lethal Injection Controversy) and Prisons on Trial - Part II (Prison Overcrowding Alternative Solution), the Diversity Section s Special Film Viewing Project, Law Day and Career Day (both of which were joint ventures with the Marin County Board of Education) and the Golf Tournament, which raised much-needed funds for Guide Dogs for the Blind, but also through the continued selfless efforts of the Marin Justice Center, its agencies, the lawyers who give so generously of their time and of the dedicated, ever-so-helpful staff of the Law Library. We have laid the groundwork for at least one new program that will hopefully result in more lawyers increasing their pro bono involvement in More on that program as it develops. The bench-bar relationship has been strengthened as well. We met with key Court representatives well before January, 2007, to reach out, listen, and seek out opportunities to work together to achieve common goals. That resulted in Court involvement in our Law Day and Career Day events. Moreover, we have met with key Court personnel as part of our formulation of the MCBA Judicial Survey (which should be sent out before the end of this year), to hear and understand their concerns in this important endeavor. And, finally, the Board has developed and made significant progress in implementing its Strategic Plan, as detailed above. The Budget Committee has met and prepared the 2008 Budget which, as I write this, I fully expect will be approved at the December Board Retreat. The Marin Lawyer more room, I would name each of our 17 Committee Chairs for jobs well done; please know how much we appreciate all your good efforts. Finally, special commendations to The Marin Lawyer Series Editor Phil Diamond for consistently doing such a great job publishing this fine newsletter each month, and to Executive Director Robynn Gaspar, the real engine moving this train. Each of you is a leader in our community. Each and every one has demonstrated dedication and commitment that deserves every member s recognition, respect and gratitude for the time and effort he or she puts in every week, month and year into making the Association as successful as it is. While I leave the Board wishing I could have accomplished even more (as I m sure every President has before me), I am gratified and proud of the progress your 2007 Board has made. I am honored that you have entrusted me with the privilege of taking the wheel and helping to chart MCBA s course for the last year and for years to come. And I am humbled by the integrity, honor and talent of all the good people named in this article. Thank you and best of luck to my successor, Edward Berberian. He will be a great leader. Finally, I cannot close out my term without acknowledging my fine colleagues on the Board: Ed Berberian, Otis Bruce, Albert Cordova, Michelle Lerman, David Brown, Neil Sorenson, Renee Giacomini Brewer, Phil Diamond, Louis Franecke, Marlene Getchell, Beth Jordan, Andrew McCullough, Eric Sternberger, Tim Chambers, Joel Gumbiner, Elizabeth Brekhus, Houman Chitsaz and Jordan Lavinsky, and Immediate Past President Dan Harris and 5-Year Past President Myron Greenberg. Special thanks also goes to each of our hardworking Section Chairs: William O Connor (ADR), Scott LaFranchi and Jennifer Wolsborn (Barristers), David Brown (Criminal Law), Otis Bruce and Andrew Mc- Cullogh (Diversity), Pieter Bogaards (Employment and Labor Law), David Block and Beth Jordan (Family Law), Steven Nielsen (Intellectual Property), Michelle Lerman and Louis Napoli (Probate/Estate Planning), and Martin Malkin and Derek Weller (Real Property). And, if I had 9

10 State Bar CLE deadline (N-Z) is February 1, 2008 MARIN COUNTY AND ALAMEDA COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATIONS PRESENT: CULTURAL ISSUES AND BIAS IN YOUR PRACTICE: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ONE HOUR ETHICS and ONE HOUR ELIMINATION OF BIAS January 24, :00 6:00 p.m. Representative topics: o o o o Cultural barriers to effective communications with clients and adversaries Selecting and convincing jurors; ethical and legal limits Testing assumptions about experts and witnesses Detecting, avoiding, and unlearning bias in your office and in your practice Panelists: Hon. Trina Thompson. Judge of the Alameda County Superior Court since January Judge Thompson has presided over felony and misdemeanor jury trials, preliminary hearings, civil case management, civil settlement conferences, and the Mentor Diversion program for young first time offenders. Julie Fenyes. Ms. Fenyes, a principal with 360º Insights in Santa Monica, has developed and presented CLE seminars for thousands of lawyers across the country. Her experience includes a broad range of civil and business cases, more than 60 death penalty cases, and a wide spectrum of white collar and other criminal matters. Michael Roosevelt. Mr. Roosevelt has undergraduate and graduate degrees in psychology from San Francisco State University and has developed unlearning bias curricula and resources for judges, attorneys and court staff. Mr. Roosevelt has special expertise in unconscious bias and its effect on people, perception and decision-making. Will Rountree. Dr. Rountree, a trial consultant with Bonora D'Andrea, LLC in San Francisco, has consulted with trial attorneys in hundreds of civil and criminal cases. He has written extensively on jury composition challenges, post-trial interview techniques, the discriminatory use of peremptory challenges, and voir dire questioning techniques in restricted time conditions. Location: Best Western Corte Madera Inn, 56 Madera Blvd., Corte Madera, CA Date: January 24, 2008 Cost: $50 MCBA & ACBA members/ $75 non members - ACBA members: Best Western Corte Madera Inn is only 30 minutes from the Oakland courthouse. 2.0 UNITS OF MCLE CREDIT This program has been approved for Minimum Continuing Legal Education credit by the State Bar of California for 2.0 hours, including one hour in elimination of bias and one hour in ethics. Provider #411.. To register, please fill out the form below and mail it, with your check payable to the Marin County Bar Association, 30 N. San Pedro Road, Ste. 140, San Rafael, California, Name: CA Bar #: Check enclosed for $ or You can bill my VISA or MasterCard 10 Visa/MC No. Exp divmcle

11 (Social Host, continued from page 1.) issue of underage drinking and its ramifications of teen automobile accidents, serious injuries to teens from such accidents including death, and other criminal activities that result from underage drinking. The Ordinance prohibits a loud or unruly party where alcohol is served to, possessed by or consumed by underage persons. Two or more underage persons are required to be present. A violation of the Ordinance results in a $750 fine for the social host and parents are responsible where either they are present or a minor child of the parent hosts the party (vicarious liability). Another section of the Ordinance holds the host liable for any response costs where there is a police, fire and/or ambulance response. This latter portion of the Ordinance comes into play after a host has been warned and law enforcement has to respond again. There is no requirement of a warning when law enforcement issues a citation for a violation where there is a loud or unruly party where alcohol is consumed by, served to or possessed by underage persons. The Ordinance does not seek to address situations where a parent serves a beer or a glass of wine to his/her own child. Why was the Social Host Ordinance drafted? Who drafted the Ordinance? At the request of Supervisors Murray and Adams, I began drafting the Ordinance. H&HS provided me with several civil Social Host Ordinance models from Southern California as well as various criminal Social Host Ordinance models from San Diego, Santa Cruz, Novato and Santa Rosa. I discovered that most of the models did not address the issue of reaching the adults who turned a blind eye to parties, hosted the parties or left town, leaving the house available for teen parties. Most of our data revealed that teen house parties occurred while parents were away from the home. Additionally, after growing up in Marin, I was well aware of the fact that teen parties occurred regularly and presented a major problem. Finally, as a parent of two teenagers, I am very concerned about the issue of teen house parties and underage drinking. There are far too many parents in the County who want to be popular with their teens and will host such a party, leave town knowing that such a party may occur, or leave town without even thinking that a house party may occur. Utilizing the models as well as the fact that we wanted to target parents, I drafted an Ordinance that (Continued on page 12.) The Ordinance was the idea of County Supervisors Cynthia Murray and Susan Adams. These Supervisors wanted to address the issue of the serious ramifications of underage drinking and attack one of its main sources, teen house parties. A major motivation for the Ordinance was the death of two teenagers in Novato in These young persons had left a teen house party and crashed their automobile while driving under the influence. The teen house party was hosted by an adult. Following that accident, Supervisors Murray and Adams began reviewing the issue of underage drinking and discovered that teen house parties were a major contributor to the problem. Along with the County Department of Health & Human Services (Division of Alcohol, Drugs and Tobacco), they contacted our office to begin drafting an effective Ordinance. One of the major problems today is the fact that recent technology gives underage persons the ability to gather at parties rather quickly. Between cell phones, text messaging and s, kids can arrive at parties within a relatively short period of time. A gathering of ten underage persons can quickly become a gathering of 100 persons. 11