The "contract" that Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler reviewed with boys at a beach house he and other parents had rented for a graduation party stipulated no "hard liquor" was to be consumed, but that it itself was a tacit allowance of beer and wine ("Gansler says he made 'a mistake,'" Oct. 24).
Mr. Gansler and the other adults who pooled money to rent the house had the authority to close the party down. It was their money, and it would have been their legal responsibility if someone was injured had been injured as a result of alcohol consumption at the house.
Parents are not perfect, and as our children enter adulthood we have less and less control over their decisions. However, I believe we do have the responsibility to communicate our core values, examine whether our actions may unwittingly enable poor choices, and make sure our children know that they will be expected to accept the full consequences of their actions.
Aren't these the principles that Mr. Gansler is sworn to uphold as Maryland's attorney general?
Stuart R. Varon, Lutherville