The Alcohol License Review Committee Subcommittee on Comprehensive Alcohol Issues once again reached out to the student community to gather input on the future of drinking in Madison during yesterday's public hearing.
Drink specials, alternative nonalcoholic venues and over-intoxication were hot topics in Grainger Hall, where approximately 60 students, university officials and local leaders voiced both their approval and concerns with a recent report issued by the subcommittee.
Members of the downtown bar community raised issues with the report's recommendation to ban drink specials, such as two for the price of one deals commonly found in local bars after 8 p.m.
\Citizens that believe in basic freedoms should be gagging at price controls,"" said Richard Lysheck, owner of Bull Feathers Tavern, 303 N. Henry St. ""Truly deep discounts are not a call to binge drink.""
UW-Madison senior Derreck Dauns said the regulation would only serve to hurt students financially without providing any significant impact on the amount of alcohol they consume.
""Every once in a while we go out to the bars to have a good time,"" he said. ""I fail to see how raising the drink prices affects how much we drink.""
Susan Crowley, director of prevention service at University Health Services, said that along with the problem of bartenders over- serving customers, drink specials directly lead to a number of evils associated with over-intoxication.
Crowley went on to explain that most of the 68 students admitted to detox centers between July 2001 and February 2002 testified to not being able restrain their own drinking.
""They report that they don't know when to stop drinking,"" she said. ""Over-serving is an important issue on this campus.""
The problem with banning drink specials then becomes one of a higher level of policing house parties, according to Ald. Todd Jarrell, District 8, something he sees as a poor allocation of city resources.
""It is also ludicrous to be increasing enforcement of underage drinking and house parties without providing an alternative form of entertainment,"" he said. ""You can't expect students to sit at home and drink milk and eat cookies.""
This is the third and final public hearing the subcommittee will hold on the issue before the report is sent to the ALRC for approval later this month. However, Ald. Kent Palmer, District 15, chair of the subcommittee, reinforced that nothing in the report was finalized.
""We still need to sit down and work on some of these specific recommendations,"" he said.
Committee member Tom Garver expressed his disappointment that more students did not speak during the public hearing,
""There's 40,000 students on campus, where are the rest of the 39,550?"" he said.
Palmer said he was pleased by the turnout, adding that it had been a priority of the committee to make sure it made itself available for student input.
""Its been really important for us to conduct all of our business while students in session,"" he said.
The report will now go before the full ALRC on April 10 before it is heard the City Council in early May.
