Pubdate: Thurs, 27 May 1999 Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (WI) Copyright: 1999, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Contact: 414-224-8280 Website: http://www.jsonline.com/ Forum: http://www.jsonline.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimate.cgi Author: Linda Spice and Lisa Sink of the Journal Sentinel staff DA BLASTS WOMAN WHO DIDN'T COOPERATE District Attorney Paul Bucher Wednesday blasted an Elm Grove woman's actions as "immoral" and "unethical" but announced he will not charge her for failing to cooperate with police. However, Bucher said he planned to personally review Elm Grove police reports today on an incident during which about 20 teens may have avoided arrest by locking themselves in a Highwood Drive home for three hours until police left. The woman, Lynn Paulsen, allowed teenagers to hide in her home during a possible underage drinking party Saturday, police said. "That's not illegal," Bucher said Wednesday. "It's immoral. It's unethical. It's wrong. But it's not illegal. "Was she setting a poor example? Absolutely," Bucher added. "But we can't prosecute people for setting a poor example." The case infuriated police, whose efforts to check on a possible disorderly party proved futile, and frustrated some parents called there by officers whose pleas for their children to leave went unheeded. Even more puzzling for officials was that Paulsen, who lives at the home, remained inside during the ordeal, refusing to answer the door or police telephone calls, Bucher said. Teens holing up in homes to avoid tickets for underage drinking is "nothing new," Bucher said Wednesday. "It happens all the time. But we don't have an adult come home in the middle of a standoff and then do nothing (to cooperate with police). That's a first for us." Paulsen declined to discuss the matter in an earlier interview and did not return a reporter's phone call Wednesday. Paulsen is the ex-wife of Elm Grove Municipal Judge Roger Paulsen, who no longer lives at the home. Bucher said he would review the police reports to see if he could bring charges for allowing underage drinking on the premises. The person who supplied alcohol could be prosecuted for procuring intoxicants for minors, he added. Underage drinking violations -- even by adults who give minors alcohol and allow underage drinking in their homes -- are punishable only by forfeitures of a few hundred dollars and not by jail time, Bucher said. Parents may not be charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor for underage drinking violations because the underlying conduct is not criminal. Underage drinking is not a crime but a civil forfeiture offense, Bucher noted. Outside the home, police found bottles of liquor in the back seat of a vehicle with four juvenile occupants. Those teens, all of whom received $160 tickets for underage drinking, denied owning the liquor. They told police they had been drinking elsewhere and had just arrived at the party. Bucher said police do not know how the teens obtained the liquor. According to police reports: An Elm Grove officer arrived at the Paulsen home about 11:20 p.m. Saturday after hearing the sound of firecrackers. As she arrived, about 20 teenagers fled from the front lawn, pulling down a garage door and running inside the house. The teens turned off lights and refused to allow police to enter even after several parents called by police arrived to pick up their children. Officers said that during the confrontation Paulsen arrived home after walking a dog. She walked up to her front door without talking to police who were in the process of giving tickets to the four teens. A mother of one of the girls receiving a ticket, who agreed to be interviewed only on the condition her name not be used, said Wednesday she supported the action the police took against her child for drinking. "Even as a teenager, when you make those decisions in life there are consequences for your decision," she said. She said her daughter had never before received a ticket. "They need to learn that," she said. "They need to learn mom and dad are going to be there to support you -- but I'm not going to cover up for it. I'm going to make her go to court, and she's going to follow this thing through. It's a learning experience, and it was a dumb thing to do." Police said Wednesday they had no legal grounds, such as proof of immediate danger or evidence of a crime being committed, to enter the home without consent. The suspicion that there was drinking going on inside the home came to police from parents who police called to the scene. At least two parents spoke with their children inside the home by telephone and said there was drinking going on and that party participants were under pressure not to leave, police have said. In general, authorities may enter a home only with consent or a warrant. In this case, police said, the matter did not rise to the level of obtaining a warrant. Bucher said in an interview Wednesday he was intrigued by a program offered by the West Allis Police Department in which police get permission to enter a home while parents are gone or at work. Dubbed the "Concerned Parents Alcohol and Drug Prevention Program," parents sign a form and provide keys, allowing police to enter their house if they suspect illegal activity such as underage drinking or drug use, according to West Allis Police Capt. Dick Jansen. Meanwhile, in a similar case, Bucher confirmed that he is reviewing a City of Pewaukee incident in which police said a 23-year-old man served minors at a party May 8. About 100 people allegedly attended the event while the host's parents were in Las Vegas, and witnesses told police at least 20 participants were underage. Pewaukee Lt. Gary Bach said his department had faced the same difficulties as officers in Elm Grove when they arrived at the home in the N2300 block of Deerhaven Drive and were refused entry as several people fled into nearby woods. Only after officers caught two 19-year-old girls in the woods and arrested them for underage drinking were they able to obtain statements against the party's host, who was arrested several days later. - --- MAP posted-by: Don Beck