Alcohol

Lenny Dykstra, the troubled ex-Phillies star, is expected to be released from a California prison Sunday, 15 months into his three-year term, according to sources. Dykstra, 50, pleaded no contest in October 2011 to three grand theft auto charges and one count of filing a false financial report, the latest in a series of downfalls in a tragic slide. After attending a drug and alcohol rehabilitation program, he was sentenced to three years in prison on March 5, 2012. "I was surprised they let him out before the three years, to be quite frank with you," said Christopher Frankie, author of Nailed: The Improbable Rise and Spectacular Fall of Lenny Dykstra . "Because he blatantly disobeyed the court, and a lot of the stuff was very brazen.

IT IS NO SECRET that President Bush thinks teens should abstain from having sex. He is submitting a budget to Congress that will award $135 million to "abstinence only" sex-education programs, an incentive for schools to bar discussion of birth control in health-education classes. It is also no secret that many high school students are sexually active. The numbers increase with each high school year (39 percent of ninth-graders have had intercourse, and that rises to 65 percent of 12th-graders)

By the time he's a high school freshman, Brian Tomasette may have forgotten all the field trips he took as a student at Indian Mills Memorial School. All but two. "I was kind of of scared when I got off the bus because I couldn't get away from this kid who was yelling at me," he said. "This kid and his friends kept yelling at us because they wanted us to know what it was really like where they lived. They guaranteed we wouldn't smile all day, and they were right. " The place was the youth detention center in Jamesburg, where Tomasette and his classmates, sixth graders at the Shamong Middle School, had traveled last month for a visit that was the first of two field trips designed to make middle school students aware of the consequences of drug and alcohol use. They got an earful from some of the residents of the detention center.

Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa., has lifted a temporary ban on student consumption of alcohol on campus, after a vote by faculty members Monday night. Professors had imposed the ban last month in response to the death of freshman Steven C. Butterworth, 18, who suffered fatal head injuries when he fell from the third story of a campus fraternity house. It was later determined his blood alcohol level exceeded the legal limit for driving. Elizabeth Skewes, college spokeswoman, said faculty members voted to lift the campus-wide alcohol ban after an administration investigation.

A urine sample submitted by Irish swimmer Michelle Smith contained deadly levels of alcohol, the head of the International Olympic Committee medical commission said yesterday. "The alcohol level was so high that you could not survive with that concentration," said Prince Alexandre de Merode, chairman of the medical commission. "That is strange - that normally indicates manipulation. " Smith, who won three gold medals at the Atlanta Olympics but was dogged by suspicions that she had used performance-enhancing drugs, is under investigation by FINA, the world swimming governing body, over the alleged tampering.

Thirty percent of Delaware County 12th graders binged on alcohol within the last month, according to a youth survey by Holcomb Behavorial Health Systems to be released next week. More county teenagers drive under the influence of marijuana than alcohol, according to the county-funded survey, done as part of the Pennsylvania Youth Survey, a project of the state Commission on Crime and Delinquency. The county data will be presented at a town-hall meeting from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m. next Thursday at the Delaware County Intermediate Unit, 200 Yale Ave., Morton.

Forward Vin Baker of the Boston Celtics says that he is a recovering alcoholic who used to binge in hotel rooms and at home after playing poorly. In an interview in yesterday's Boston Globe, Baker said Celtics coach Jim O'Brien smelled alcohol on his breath in practice and confronted him about it. The team suspended him Feb. 27, and he did not play again last season. He said that he has not had a drink for six months. Baker said that he began binge drinking during the 1998-99 NBA lockout.

Observing that decades of familial alcoholism was a "co-conspirator" in the case, a Burlington County judge sentenced a Bordentown City man to seven years in prison for last year's stabbing death of his younger brother. Superior Court Judge Donald P. Gaydos gave defendant James "Bo" Foster, 32, his sympathy during Friday's sentencing, and said he did not believe that Foster meant to kill his brother, John Wayne Foster, 22, when he plunged a butcher knife into his back after the younger brother struck their mother in a dispute over coming home drunk.

PENN STATE is without punter Anthony Fera, who has not been practicing due to his second alcohol-related incident. Fera, 20, a redshirt sophomore from Cypress, Texas, pleaded guilty on Aug. 4, to two summary offenses, according to court documents. He was charged with purchasing alcohol by a minor and disorderly conduct/fighting. Fera paid more than $650 in fines for the June 7 incident. In 2010, he was cited for purchase/possession of alcohol by a minor. That charge was dismissed.

Drug and alcohol use among 11th graders in the Octorara Area School District has declined since 1986, but alcohol remains "the drug of choice" among students, according to a district survey released last week. The questionnaire of 160 high school juniors, given each year between 1986 and 1989, found that students drinking liquor monthly or more often had fallen from 45 percent to 32 percent. It also found similar decreases in the consumption of beer and wine. The survey also found that only 2 percent of the students used cocaine monthly or more often - down from 7 percent in 1986.

Jim Beam, Jose Cuervo, and Johnny Walker are in the pokey. State investigators confiscated 1,000 open bottles from 29 bars and restaurants across the state to see whether the contents were premium brands or substituted cheap booze - or worse - and being sold as the good stuff. On Thursday, state officials released new details of a yearlong investigation, "Operation Swill," that found rubbing alcohol, dirty water, and food coloring in a few cocktails sold as premium drinks. "This alleged scheme is a dishonest ruse to increase profits, and it is a slap in the face to the consumer," state Attorney General Jeffrey S. Chiesa said during a news conference in Trenton.

In West Chester and college towns across the state, there's never a short supply of alcohol - or patrons bellying up to the bar. But that's not the case when it comes to funds for local law enforcement and public works - and West Chester's borough council is hoping to persuade the state legislature to allow it to institute a drink tax of up to 10 percent to help cover those costs. The move comes as Mayor Nutter has proposed increasing the tax on alcoholic drinks in city bars from 10 percent to 15 percent to aid city schools.

IF THE school district doesn't receive additional funding and operates next year under an austerity plan, the resulting scenario would devastate education for the children of the city, Mayor Nutter asserted yesterday. The district cuts essentially would mean "buildings that are open and people who are there," Nutter said. "But it is not an educational opportunity. " Schools would go without assistant principals, guidance counselors and extracurricular activities, Nutter said to students and staff at Jackson School in South Philadelphia.

By Raymond Scalettar The Centers for Disease Control has weighed in very publicly in the debate surrounding the privatization of state liquor stores in Pennsylvania, suggesting that privatization would harm public health. The studies CDC cites as evidence, however, do not support that claim. Robert Brewer, who leads the alcohol program in the CDC's National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, has repeatedly pointed to a review by CDC's Community Task Force.

Thirty percent of Delaware County 12th graders binged on alcohol within the last month, according to a youth survey by Holcomb Behavorial Health Systems to be released next week. More county teenagers drive under the influence of marijuana than alcohol, according to the county-funded survey, done as part of the Pennsylvania Youth Survey, a project of the state Commission on Crime and Delinquency. The county data will be presented at a town-hall meeting from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m. next Thursday at the Delaware County Intermediate Unit, 200 Yale Ave., Morton.

It's a simple, critical, and sobering question at the heart of the debate over privatizing state liquor stores: Will Pennsylvanians drink more booze if sales are wrested from government control? Advocates say liquor privatization would mean more convenience, better selection, and lower prices. But public-health experts say reducing the government's role in alcohol sales comes with a potentially harmful downside - people buy more of the alcoholic beverage that is privatized. In 2011, the Community Preventive Services Task Force, an independent group appointed by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, recommended against privatization "based on strong evidence that privatization results in increased per-capita alcohol consumption.

A Rowan University student died 13 hours after being hit by a car early Friday on campus. Police suspect alcohol may have been involved in the accident. Matthew J. Uhl, 22, a senior entrepreneurship major from Little Egg Harbor, N.J., suffered massive head trauma after a driver from Connecticut hit him on State Street around 12:30 a.m., Glassboro police said. Friends took to Twitter earlier in the day sending messages of support, using the hash tag #prayformattuhl, with biting references to drunken driving.

A Delaware County teacher has been charged with furnishing alcohol to two of her students. State Police arrested Katherine Leigh Preusser, 33, an English teacher at Ridley High School, on March 23, after a car in which she was a passenger was pulled over and open beer cans were found inside. Two students were in the car at the time, one of them driving, officials said. Preusser was charged with corruption of minors, furnishing alcohol to minors, drug possession, and other related crimes.

Want a beer with that burger? How about a glass of wine with your pasta? Right now in Brookhaven, Delaware County, you can't order either. But change may be on the menu. Borough officials have collected more than enough signatures to put a referendum on the May 21 ballot that would allow restaurants to serve alcoholic beverages. Brookhaven is one of 22 municipalities in Philadelphia's Pennsylvania suburbs that are "dry" when it comes to alcohol sales in restaurants and bars.

HARRISBURG - Call it the Big Sell. In the hours leading up to what is widely expected to be a historic vote Thursday on whether to privatize alcohol sales in Pennsylvania, activity has intensified behind the scenes as much has it has on the House floor. Lobbying in the hallways. Phone calls from the governor. A frantic numbers game - are the votes there? Whose mind needs changing, whose arm needs twisting just a bit harder? Such a frenzy of lobbying hasn't been seen in the Capitol on a single issue - other than the annual budget - since Gov. Ed Rendell's days.