A Fond du Lac dad takes his kids to the fair. That's not unusual. What is unusual is that he took them to the beer tent and ordered up a cold one — for his four year old — and insists he's legally within his rights. The father told a police officer that it's legal for underage children to drink in Wisconsin as long as they're with their parents. Is he right? "No, dad is not right," says Dane County Sheriff's Sergeant Gordie Disch. "The child has to be 18 years of age and accompanied by an adult on a licensed premise before it's legal for that child to consume any alcoholic beverage."
The man was cited for disorderly conduct after becoming belligerent with the officer who questioned his take on state statutes, but Disch says the dad could've been charged with a variety of offenses including contributing to the delinquency of a minor or procuring alcohol for an underage person. Incidentally, the four year was expected to share his beer — with his two year old sibling.