Kevin Brockway, age 17, was killed in an automobile crash last New Year's Eve in St. Paul. His friend, a passenger, was also seriously injured. Now we learn that the Ramsey County Attorney's office cannot file felony charges against the alleged adult provider of alcohol in the death of Kevin Brockway. Many people are furious and trying to understand why. If causing death or serious injury by shooting someone can result in felony charges, why doesn't this apply if providing alcohol leads to the same result?

The answer, it seems, is to be found in a "loophole" in the alcohol statutes. It turns out that felony charges can only be applied to non-commercial providers who sell alcohol to an underage person and the subsequent intoxication leads to serious bodily harm or death. I can't imagine that the original authors of this statute intended to let providers off the hook simply because they give the alcohol away. Surely felony charges were intended for cases of serious injury or death, regardless of whether or not somebody made a profit! If the current laws are not strong enough, we must find a way to strengthen these laws. This statute could be corrected by inserting "or provided" just after the word sold in the statute. We all need to work together to make this change.

I met Tom Brockway, Kevin's father the other day. Prior to his presentation to students at an area high school, we had a chance to talk. He said he is still walking around in a "foggy nightmare." When I asked him what he thought about the Ramsey County Attorney's decision, he said, "I just don't have enough emotional room inside me to be angry right now." Then he added, "I probably will be angry if nothing is done."

This issue is not necessarily about whether this one person is charged with a felony or not. It is about sending a strong message and providing a deterrent to those who would provide alcohol to underage individuals. I am baffled. What are providers of alcohol to young people thinking? Are they doing this for malicious reasons? Or perhaps they have good intentions. Do they really think it's possible to create a "safe" drinking environment for youth? In my opinion, there is no such thing as a completely safe drinking environment, for anybody, for that matter.

How sadly ironic it was the day of the Ramsey County ruling. KARE TV was interviewing me to get Minnesota Join Together's reaction. I kept thinking, here we are having this discussion about what to do about adult providers of alcohol, when at the exact same time, just a few miles down the road in Coon Rapids, there was a funeral going on for one of the three young men that had died from another alcohol-related auto crash just days before. It was reported that these youth, too, had been drinking at a party. All three were under 21. Where did they get their alcohol? More deaths occurred in Minnetonka just a few days later. How many young people must die before we figure this out? How many young people have died, or had their lives changed forever, from alcohol-related causes since I wrote this and you read it?

We've got a lot of work to do to change attitudes and laws in our communities. Work that we must do …Because It Matters.