The charges filed against adults and youths in connection with an underage drinking party in Dallastown show there are consequences for everyone, one Dallastown youth football coach said Sunday.

"It's a lesson for parents, not just kids," Dan Kennedy said.

On Friday, York Area Regional Police charged four adults with providing alcohol to Dallastown Area High School students at a party on Oct. 5. Four juveniles and two 18-year-olds were also cited with underage drinking.

Some Dallastown-area residents said that, if the adults knowingly provided the alcohol, they deserve the punishment.

"If my son was at that party, I'd have a lawsuit against them," said Corey Sunday, who was at Tailgaters Grille and Drafthouse in York Township on Sunday with Kennedy and Rob Catchings. All three coach


Dallastown Cougars youth football.

"I know it wouldn't happen in my house," Kennedy said.

The adults might have thought they were controlling the environment, he said, but, if the allegations are true, they "messed up."

"It was bad judgment on their part," he said.

Michael and Christine Kinsey, who live in the Dallastown school district, said they have underage children.

"They don't get served in our house," Christine Kinsey said.

Michael Kinsey said that, if adults provide alcohol to minors, they have to take the consequences.

But, he said the Dallastown Area School District overreacted in punishing the kids involved.

School officials have said they

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cut eight football players and several cheerleaders from those activities because the students signed a pledge promising not to drink, smoke or use drugs.

That's what bothers Sunday and Kennedy.

"They talk about teaching lessons . . . but when do we ruin a kid's life because of a bad mistake?" Kennedy said. A football player could lose a college scholarship by being cut from the team, he said.

Sunday said high school is all about learning from mistakes. Now, without their extra-curricular activities, the kids have nothing to lose, he said.

He said the students should have been suspended for a few games but given the chance to come back.

"It took away a whole season from these guys," he said.
amason@ydr.com; 771-2048

AT A GLANCE

York Area Regional Police charged adults and juveniles in connection with an Oct. 5 party where, police said, alcohol was served.

On Friday, police charged four adults -- Thomas Michael Imhoff, 39, and Tracy Renee Imhoff, 38, of the 800 block of South Park Street; Laura Lee Orwig, 43, of the 2700 block of Heather Drive, York Township; and Jack Gene Laing Sr., 41, of the first block of Cheyenne Court in Windsor -- with furnishing alcohol to a minor. The Imhoffs and Orwig were also charged with corruption of minors and criminal conspiracy to furnish alcohol to a minor.

A woman who answered the door at Orwig's home declined to comment Sunday. The Imhoffs and Laing could not be reached for comment.

Police also cited two 18-year-olds, Ryan Joseph Fritz and Eric Steven Shoff, both of York Township, and four juveniles with underage drinking.

Dallastown school officials said eight high school football players and several cheerleaders were dismissed from their activities for attending the party.