State v. Bush ( 1970 )

McQUADE, Justice

(concurring specialty)-

Prosecutions under I.C. § 23-1013 in situations not involving a commercial transaction may modify the safeguards afforded parents in I.C. § 23-1023. Parents and friends of parents may be prosecuted for serving minors beer in the privacy of their residences, despite the presence and permission of parents.

This anomalous situation is, however, justified by the ambiguous language of I.C. § 23-1013. The term “dispense,” as used in that section and in I.C. § 23-1012 appears to refer only to commercial sales of beer. This ambiguity is scarcely tolerable in a statute which is penal in nature. Still, the courts must apply the law as the legislature has written it. We must look to the legislature to safeguard the citizens of Idaho from the jeopardy of a criminal conviction under I.C. § 23-1013' for “dispensing” beer to their children and their friends’ children in the privacy of their own homes. I call attention to that body to make its intention clear and unambiguous.