For students older than 21, waiting in long lines in Tigerland may be a thing of the past.
Officials including Col. Jim Champagne, director of the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission, are trying to get the Louisiana Legislature to pass a law banning anyone younger than 21 years old from entering a bar.
Champagne said the constitutional mandate and state-adopted law not allowing minors to consume alcohol, but allowing them to go into bars, thus obtaining alcohol in some way, is “hypocritical and absolutely impossible for law enforcement to stop.”
Therefore, he will fight the opposition. If the bill fails in the Legislature, he will go to parish council meetings to try to convince each parish to adopt the law, he said.
He said some parishes, such as Rapides Parish, already do not allow anyone younger than 21 to enter a bar.
Champagne said his bill addresses a public health issue because 29 percent of drivers between the ages of 18 and 20 killed in fatal crashes in 2001 were using alcohol.
“The greatest traffic safety concern is drinking and driving,” he said.
However, many University students disagree with Champagne’s efforts.
“This is a college town,” said Ricardo Jeffries, a mass communication freshman. “You have a lot of rowdy folks that need to go somewhere.”
Along with disagreeing with the effectiveness of the proposed law, Jeffries said it would induce the creation of more fake IDs and more “law-breaking.”
“That’s stupid,” said Kirk Middleton, a biological sciences freshman. “The majority of college kids wouldn’t be able to go out.”
Anthropology junior Tiffany Hierath said she does not think the law would prevent anyone from getting alcohol. A more effective method to reduce drunk driving would be to increase the punishment for violators, she said.
“In Japan, the fine for drinking and driving is like $5,000,” she said, “That would make more sense. An 18-year-old can go to a party and get drunk.”
Elementary education freshman Jeanne Livaudais said if the legislation passes, a student could fight for his country at 18 and get shot but not be able to go to a bar.
George Brown, executive director of the Beer Industry League of Louisiana, said the idea of an adult — those who are 18 — not being able to go into a bar is repugnant.
He said it would accomplish nothing but driving them into apartments, motor homes or cars, where older people would go and buy them alcohol.
“If you want to buy a home [at 18], you can do that; if you want to obtain a liquor permit and open a bar, banks will give you a loan, you can do that,” Brown said.
Brown did not deny the drinking and driving problem and said he would support the second- offender DWI legislation — lowering blood alcohol levels for convicted DWI offenders — for which Mother’s Against Drunk Driving is lobbying.
He said there needs to be a realistic approach to the abuse of alcohol, and there needs to be research done on why young people binge drink.
Although Brown does not think there is as much drinking and driving as there used to be, Champagne said in 2001, Louisiana had 859 fatal crashes killing 947 people, 50 percent of which involved alcohol.
Champagne also said the “truly sad statistic” is that out of 23,386 drivers arrested for drunk driving, only 6,975, or 45 percent, were convicted for a DWI.
“That is the lowest rate in the country,” he said.
Although Champagne has tried seven times and legislators rejected his bill seven times in the past, he thinks this year may bring success because they are up for re-election and their constituents are serious about wiping out drunk driving.
Champagne, representing the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission, will present his bill to the DWI task force meeting at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday at the State Capitol Building in House Committee Room 3.