Here is some good news from our local community. Just yesterday the legal
drinking age on our island was raised from 18 to 21, which puts our laws
more in line with those in the US mainland. This is one issue where our
local senators got it right. The vote for Bill 389 was unanimous, 15-0.

Only last week a 19-year-old local girl hit a cyclist from behind, and he
ended up in the hospital in Hawaii. This girl was charged with DUI. The
tragedy here is that only three weeksk earlier, she was charged for the very
same thing for a similar incident.

Hopefully, the passage of this bill will save lives in coming years.

"Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby
is not wise." Proverbs 20:1, KJV


Drinking age bill passed: Lt. Gov. Cruz says administration supports measure

By Dionesis Tamondong - Pacific Daily News

July 3, 2010


A bill to raise the legal drinking age on Guam was unanimously approved in
session yesterday, but a measure that cuts the hours of sale for alcohol
barely passed.

Cheers erupted in the Legislature's public hearing room after Speaker Judith
Won Pat announced that Bill 389, The Ramon Someros Oberiano Act, passed with
the support of all 15 senators.

Members of the medical community, a youth group and the Oberiano family
clapped and shouted while holding signs and pictures of the cyclist, who was
killed in 2006 by a 19-year-old drunken driver.

Bill 389, which was introduced by Vice Speaker Benjamin Cruz, would raise
the drinking age from 18 to 21. The measure was one of 26 measures acted on
by lawmakers yesterday after a weeklong session.

Senators also passed bills to prohibit the importation of certain nicotine
products, to exchange land for Tiyan property owners and to restrict
greyhound dog racing.

Bill 356, another one of Cruz's bills, passed by a vote of 8 to 7. The
measure would require vendors to stop selling or serving alcoholic beverages
at 2 a.m. on all days of the week.

Currently, businesses are allowed to sell alcohol until 4 a.m. on weekends
and holidays. If Gov. Felix Camacho signs the bill, the change would take
effect immediately.

Republican Sens. Tony Ada, Frank Blas, Eddie Calvo and Telo Taitague, and
Democratic Sens. Judith Guthertz and Rory Respicio, voted against the bill.
Democratic Sen. Tina Muna-Barnes passed on the vote three times, making it
count as a "no" vote.

Muna-Barnes and Republican Sen. Ray Tenorio asked that they be excused from
voting because of a potential conflict of interest. Both said they have
close relatives who own business that would be affected by Bill 356, but the
majority of senators said they shouldn't be recused from voting on the
measure.

The final and deciding vote fell on Tenorio, who voted to pass it.

Opposition

Opponents of Bill 389 have said raising the drinking age is a decision that
shouldn't be left solely to lawmakers, but rather placed in a referendum for
voters to decide.

Rikki Orsini was among a handful of people at the Legislature yesterday
lobbying against the bill. She held a sign that stated: "If 18-year-olds can
vote, they can make responsible decisions to drink responsibly."

"I don't think this bill is the solution to the problem of driving under the
influence. Instead, they should make the DUI laws tougher," the young
Barrigada resident said. "Actually, the biggest DUI offenders are repeat
offenders who are older than 21, based on the information I got from the
courts and police."

Orsini said she will continue her lobbying efforts at the governor's office.
Lt. Gov. Mike Cruz has said the administration is in support of the bill.

Florita Oberiano, mother of the cyclist Ramon Oberiano, became emotional
after the drinking age bill passed.

"It's good to see all this support, especially from these young kids," she
said in the Legislature's public hearing room.



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