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Firing of coaches
appropriate in teen
drinking incidents

THE ISSUE The state Department of Education has dismissed coaches at two public schools after investigations.

PARENTS are chiefly responsible for their children's behavior, but adults who supervise and lead them in athletics also are obligated to steer them straight.

In the past two months, coaches at two public high schools have been fired after incidents involving alcohol. The state Department of Education is correct in dismissing them not only because of their capacity to influence young people, but because teenage drinking is clearly illegal.

Police on Lanai are investigating the first incident, but the Honolulu Police Department has yet to open a probe of the second. Unless law enforcement takes these matters seriously, adults and teenagers will continue to shrug off illegal drinking as acceptable.

Lanai High girls' basketball coach, Russell Zablan, and his assistant, Dale Kapua, were fired last month after allegations that they supplied beer to and drank with team members during a preseason tournament on Oahu.

More recently, a Kahuku High School girls' softball coach was terminated on similar allegations.

Bu Heffernan, who last month was chosen as an Oahu Interscholastic Association coach of the year, says he did not buy alcohol for his team members. He acknowledges that on occasion he drank with friends at parks and other locations and that some of his players would join in with their own drinks. He maintains that every time that happened he told the girls they should not be drinking if they were underage.

Heffernan said it wasn't his job to stop them from drinking. "Practice is over," he said in absolving himself.

It is incredible that Heffernan did not know the high school girls were underage and that their drinking was illegal. Even if the drinking took place outside of practice sessions, he had a moral obligation to inform parents of the girls' behavior and to report the problem to school officials. As an athletic coach, he should not have condoned unhealthy habits and illegal behavior. As an adult, he should have stepped in.

The culture of athletic competition seems to breed a casual indifference to alcohol and alcohol abuse. Sporting events broadcast on television overflow with ads for beer and other booze. Even at informal games, coolers of beer and other liquor are part of the scene.

The coaches aren't solely answerable for the teenagers who, from descriptions of the incidents, seemed to drink routinely. There are a string of culprits. Those who sold them the alcohol or who helped them get their hands on the booze also are to blame. The team members themselves are most at fault.

Finally, as Heffernan said, "If they're out drinking, where are their parents?" Indeed.

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