Western Courier

Issue date: 10/2/06 Section: Opinion

Media Credit: MCT While the law seting the drinking age at 21 may not make sense, until maturity is exercised by all parties involved it will never be considered for revising.

In the last year vandalism, fighting and excessive noise on the parts of some intoxicated Western students has led local law enforcement to crack down on underage drinking.

In Macomb, the police occasionally come into bars and accusingly ask everyone inside for an ID. If these students are drinking illegally, they will certainly receive a citation for underage drinking, and if they are in the bar illegally, they will face more severe legal consequences.

These efforts on the part of law enforcement are hopefully well-intentioned, but they are misguided and don't address the problems they are trying to solve.

When local law enforcement and the university speak about stopping underage drinking, they cite the vandalism, fighting, noise and drunk driving that the Macomb community is so adamantly against.

They are ignoring the obvious: Why not, instead of cracking down on underage drinkers, crack down on vandalism, fighting, noise and drunk driving?

Everyone with concerns about this issue overlooks that, yes, a vast majority of Western Illinois University students drink or go to the bars underage, but a vast majority of those students do so as responsibly as those who drink legally.

Most of them will drink but will refuse to drive home if they don't feel sober enough to do so. They will walk or arrange for rides to their dorms or homes.

If they walk home, they will not fight with each other, vandalize property or scream in the streets. They will behave as responsibly as those who drink at age 21. Law enforcement also has no proof that those who commit these offenses are not drinking legally.

Unfortunately, no one in power seems to be willing to admit that there is an obvious difference between those who drink underage and go home, and those who drink underage and get behind the wheel or use their alcohol consumption as an excuse to commit other crimes. The second type is the true problem in the Macomb community, and local law enforcement ought to shift their focus to reflect that.

Another concept that law enforcement overlooks is that the fighting and vandalism may not be caused by intoxication at all, and if it is a cause, the intoxication may only be an excuse for this behavior and not the actual root of the problem.

Continued...

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