www.roanoke.com

It was really stupid of Elisa Kelly and her then-husband George Robinson to think that if they didn't host her son's 16th birthday bash with alcohol the kids would just go off and drink someplace else.

It wasn't unusually stupid of them. Plenty of parents think this way. In fact, some might now be considering caving in to the same argument proffered by their own recent high school graduates: Kids are going to drink. Might as well let them do it in a safe place. Collect their keys. Keep them off the road and out of trouble.

Before succumbing, parents might want to ask Kelly and Robinson how well that works out. For the next 27 months they'll have plenty of time to answer correspondence.

After their 2002 party -- which took place a month after a classmate of Kelly's son was killed in a drunken driving accident -- a judge sentenced the couple to eight years for serving liquor to teens. While the sentence was eventually reduced, appeals have run out, the convictions stand and the now-divorced couple was expected Monday to begin serving their time.

The ordeal has torn the family apart. The son blames himself, took it so hard he dropped out of school and wishes he could swap places with his mother. Kelly's other son, now 16, will finish out high school without his mother. The boys can visit her at the Albemarle Charlottesville Regional Jail for 15 minutes each month.

It's a heartbreaking consequence to a terrible parental decision, and it is difficult not to feel compassion for the family. No teen left the party in a car. No one was injured, although who's to say what might have occurred had the police not arrived to find 30 teens drinking in the back yard.

The sentence does seem harsh as the terms for each count were stacked consecutively instead of running concurrently. But it does send a chilling message to all parents:

Virginia law prohibits adults from serving alcohol to teens. It is a crime and parents will do time.