All Out Against Alcohol : Beverly Hills Doctor Is Relentless in Her Crusade Against Liquor Consumption

Dr. Trisha Roth has been called the Carry Nation of Beverly Hills--after that crusading, turn-of-the-century Prohibitionist who waged war against alcohol by busting up saloons with a hatchet.

“Carry Nation was a terrific lady,” said Roth, who enjoys the comparison, even though she doesn’t consider herself a prohibitionist. “But I’ve found a better way to attack the problem than by using a hatchet.”

The 44-year-old pediatrician is running her own crusade, trying to convince city and school officials that more should be done to prevent the use of alcohol by minors and to restrict its use by adults.

One weapon in her arsenal is Proposition 65, the state law requiring those who sell alcoholic beverages to post signs warning of the dangerous effects alcohol can have on pregnant women and their fetuses. The law carries a $2,500-a-day fine for those businesses that refuse to display the warning.

Requested 38 Probes

Since May, Roth has asked the district attorney’s office to investigate 38 fashionable restaurants and other institutions in and around Beverly Hills, including the Century Plaza and Beverly Wilshire hotels, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and her own Temple Emanuel.

In addition to her use of Proposition 65, Roth has at times inundated city officials and organization leaders with letters, phone calls and visits. She asks them not to serve alcohol at city-sponsored events and to post signs promoting the use of designated drivers at all occasions where alcohol is used.

Many praise Roth’s efforts for increasing public awareness about a serious problem; others say privately that her modern-day temperance movement has gone too far.

“She can drive you to drink,” said one Beverly Hills resident who has worked with Roth. “She wants to be a one-person vigilante, but you can’t police the world.”

However, Barbara Bloomberg, the founder of the Los Angeles chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Drivers, offered another view. “Trisha is one of a kind,” she said. “She’s like a victim’s mother. There is a desperation about her. My son was killed by a drunk. I remember the obsession, the desperation in trying to get something done. Trisha is just as passionately involved in this as if she had lost someone. . . . Maybe it takes someone like her to make a difference in Beverly Hills.”

Lawn Burned

The criticism turned ugly two months ago when pranksters borrowed the theme of the familiar anti-drug slogan “Just Say No” and burned “Say Yes” into her lawn.

Despite the criticism, Roth says she remains committed to the crusade she launched more than a year ago after her 17-year-old daughter, Samantha, complained that minors were being served alcohol at a party with the blessing of adults. “The whole thing made me angry,” she said.

Roth brought the matter before the Beverly Hills Council of PTAs and was asked to head a task force on alcohol and teen-agers.

One of the task force’s first acts was to distribute pledges to parents asking them to agree not to serve alcohol to minors in the home. The group also organized drug- and alcohol-awareness seminars and encouraged teen-agers to organize drug- and alcohol-free events. But less than a tenth of the 3,000 pledges distributed in the community were returned, and the alcohol-free events never proved a hit with the students.

The experience had a sobering effect on Roth, who, with husband Andrew, has three children in addition to Samantha: Suzie, 15, Nancy 13 and Michael, 9. She began devoting more time and seeking tougher measures to combat the problem.

“I decided that it was important that I be consistent. I want to be a good role model for my children so I decided that I would give up alcohol altogether,” said Roth, who was a casual drinker. “I decided I couldn’t get behind the wheel after having had a drink. That is the wrong image to give children. I don’t want my kids to have the image that it’s OK to drink and get behind the wheel of a car.”

Called in Vice Squad

Roth expressed her zeal in other ways too. She complained about the presence of a wine-tasting class in the adult school, and the district canceled it. She tangled with the American Cancer Society for allowing a wine-tasting fund-raiser to be held on its behalf.

“Fund-raisers are the sacred cows of charitable organizations,” she said. “The rule is never, never anger your guests. You want them to have a good time and get good and liquored up so they can give a lot of money.”

She angered several parents by calling in a vice-squad officer from the Sheriff’s Department West Hollywood station to review the high school seniors’ plans to have an after-prom party in West Hollywood.

She already plans to lodge a complaint if Beverly Hills plans to allow alcohol to be served at the city’s final 75th anniversary celebration this month.

And she has asked the Beverly Hills Unified School District to adopt a Glendale Unified School District policy that bans the sale of alcohol at all events where minors are present.

“Zealot,” is how Beverly Hills Mayor Maxwell H. Salter describes Roth. “She is so imbued with passion on this thing of alcohol that maybe she doesn’t realize she loses her effectiveness. People have to let up once in awhile on what they are doing. She doesn’t. The correspondence, the mail, we are deluged by it. This is not to say that what she is doing isn’t good and important. It is . . . . We need the zealots of the world to change it.”

Roth sees herself as persistent. “A lot of people hope that I would just go away and stop doing this,” she said. “I’ve tried to leave things alone, but nothing happens and I get no response.”

After meeting with Roth, the owner of the trendy Romeo and Juliet’s restaurant put up designated-driver signs and began offering free soft drinks to anyone in a party of three or more who agrees to become the designated driver. Alvin Platt, the executive director at Temple Emanuel, said the synagogue strengthened its policy about posting warning signs at social events and now gives its members the option of having wine or juice during religious ceremonies. “She is a committed lady, and she does what she does out of sincere conviction,” Platt said.

David Guthman, who heads the district attorney’s environmental crimes division, said that attorneys for the temple were initially concerned that his office would impinge on religious freedom when he investigated Roth’s complaint that the temple hadn’t posted warning signs. She also asked that another investigation be made of Leo Baeck Temple.

“The issues become a little more touchy when it involves a potential conflict with religious ceremonies,” Guthman said. “I assured (the temple’s) attorneys that I’m not about to jump into an issue involving use of wine for ritual religious practices in church or synagogue. Our intent is not to get into a First Amendment issue. We are only concerned about fund-raisers and post-religious issues.”

Can Be ‘Relentless’

School board President Dana Tomarken says the passion Roth has shown has been good for Beverly Hills. “She is very passionate about her cause and she has brought a high level of attention to the importance of alcohol and drug awareness,” she said. “But she can be a little relentless.”

Roth said parents are under tremendous pressure to give in to their children and there is little time to correct mistakes. “Your kids ask to go places that just might turn out to be the wrong place and the wrong time,” she said.

“They say it’s a matter of trust, that we don’t trust them if we don’t let them have their way. But it’s not that simple. We all want our children to be popular, we also want them to be alive. Sometimes it’s a game of weighing statistics and chances.

“Most kids are not going to wind up in a drinking-and-driving accident. Chances are, your kid won’t be killed because the chance that your kid will die in a car accident is small, but when it happens to your kid, it’s 100%.”