So, as the story in the Chicago Tribune this morning goes, a bunch of Highland Park kids headed out to Homecoming hired an SUV limo driven by this guy named Lionel of the AnyTime Limo service in Addison. One of the kids asked to stop at his house on the way to the event, and got back into the car with a bag full of booze. When the driver found out, he tried to call the parents who were not available and, finally, after the kids' attempts to bribe him failed, Lionel the Driver called the cops.
And created quite a stir.
Let's see now. We have the "let's lower the drinking age" folks weighing in. We have parents saying, "Oh, come on it's homecoming." We have parents calling the owner of the company and threatening to sue.
So I called the owner of the company to offer him a pat on the back.
Turns out he's getting a lot of calls from people like me. Mixed in amongst them, of course, are the ones from the mouth-breathers and gutter slime who insult his and Lionel the Driver's Hispanic heritage.
It also turns out that Lionel the Driver is a former cop in Mexico City. Talk about a tough beat. For him to come here, take a job driving a limo, and then be the subject of outrage for following not only the rules set by his company but state law, jeez, that's got to feel like a real stick in the eye.
Except some people who call are offering him money because he did the right thing. Some people, like me, will now use Anytime Limo in Addison any time they need limo transportation.
Some people respect him for standing up for whats right and being a good example, not only to the kids he turned in, but anyone else who needs a role model.
Interestingly enough, this story hits at the same time as another college fraternity house death is being blamed on booze.
What's to say Lionel the Driver didn't prevent one of those by making his phone call?
Here's the bottom line as far as I'm concerned.
Parents who don't like what Lionel the Driver did can do the driving themselves next time. Why not? Most of them own SUVs just a little smaller than the ones provided by most limo services. Pile your kids and their friends into the back, give them whatever booze they want (hey, a couple in Deerfield only got a slap on the wrist for providing booze to minors last year and two kids died in that case) and you try to concentrate on getting where you're going.
Oops, sorry. That might mean you'd have to miss a cocktail party of your own. We wouldn't want that, would we?
Oh yes, don't let me forget one last point. Some folks argue that at least the kids decided to call a limo service instead of drinking and then driving themselves. Yep, a good choice and I can't fault 'em for it. And in this case the lesson they might learn, if they take a moment to think about it, is that the person they asked to take responsibility for them did so.
It's a shame we can't say as much for their parents.
