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Cops bust teens' root-beer kegger
Dozens of high schoolers forced to take breath tests
The Associated Press
updated 1:26 p.m. HT, Fri., March. 28, 2008

WAUSAU, Wis. - Cars lining the street. A house full of young people. A keg and drinking games inside. Police thought they had an underage boozing party on their hands.

But though they made dozens of teens take breath tests, none tested positive for alcohol. That's because the keg contained root beer.

The party was held by a high school student who wanted to show that teens don't always drink alcohol at their parties. It has gained fame on YouTube.com.

Dustin Zebro, 18, said he staged the party after friends at D.C. Everest High School got suspended from sports because of pictures showing them drinking from red cups.

The root-beer kegger was "to kind of make fun of the school," he said. "They assumed there was beer in the cups. We just wanted to have some root beer in red cups and just make it look like a party, but there actually wasn't any alcohol."

Zebro purchased a quarter-barrel of 1919 Classic American Draft Root Beer, and by 10 p.m. Saturday, the scene outside his rural Wausau home had all the makings of a teen drinking party — cars, noise and kids.

Kronenwetter Police Chief Daniel Joling said an officer was dispatched to the home March 1 on a complaint of cars blocking the road.

Juveniles began coming out of the house after the officer used his squad car's loudspeaker to warn that cars would soon be towed, Officer Jason Rasmussen wrote in his report.

Nearly 90 breath tests were done, and officers even searched locked rooms for hiding teens.

"It was a tremendous waste of time and manpower, but we still had a job to do, and our officers did it," Joling said. "If one kid had come there, even hadn't drank there, but had come there and had been drinking and had left and crashed and burned, then what would the sentiment be? Why didn't the police check everybody out?"

School Superintendent Kris Gilmore did not immediately return a message Friday.
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While I know cops have to do their job in making sure that there wasn't any underage drinking going on, I can't help but laugh at this story for some reason.

For the curious, this is the video of the party on YouTube: Link

migamoo

I can't help but find this a bit amusing. It does just go to show that you can't judge what's going on in photos.

sunnykerr

At the same time, I love the cop's attitude.

I grew up not very far north of the American border and, because of the difference in the legal age for drinking, we had a lot of "visitors" on weekends and whatnot. And... well, I think it's that thing where, if something's forbidden, it makes it all the more appealing, and you indulge all the much more when you finally get your hands on it... we had a lot of tragedies as a result. Lots of cars accidents. Lots of alcohol poisoning.

So I like that the cop said that they had a job to do, even if there wasn't "sponsored" alcohol at the party. Because, just as I am sure that my parents weren't the only ones who had a reasonable approach to teaching their kids about moderation in all things, I am sure that some parents out there are so forbidding about it that their kids don't really know their own boundaries.

AmeliaBeck

I watched some of the video that they posted on YouTube. It really made me laugh a little because I think that the kids looked like they were trying to be drunk, hah. It was funny. I want a Root Beer party now :/

McGrawchick

that is too funny.