Recent changes in the proposed keg ordinance seeks to strike a compromise over an ordinance that has been the subject of much debate on the city and county levels.

Story County Attorney Steve Holmes highlighted recent changes in the proposed ordinance to the members of the Story County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday. The changes include wording that states a request for records by law enforcement officers will be prospective only and the request will only be honored after 12 hours. The revised ordinance also states that keg retailers will be left to set the amount of deposit on a keg of beer. Previous versions of the ordinance required that the minimum deposit on a keg be raised to $50.

The changes come as a direct response to forums with students and communication between Holmes and the Ames community. Students had raised concerns that buyer information about kegs would be used to create a “party patrol.”

“This is to address concerns that were raised about law enforcement being able to go to a retailer and ask for a record that was recently made to locate or to identify where a party is being held,” Holmes said, according to a Nov. 30 Daily report.

Holmes believes the new language about how police will be able to access buyer information from retailers would protect the privacy rights of buyers, by placing a time limit on when police can receive that information. He hopes this would prevent the perception that police would only use that information as a way to locate and stop keg parties.

Opponents of the keg ordinance, however, are not completely won over by the proposed changes.

In October, the GSB passed a resolution on the proposed ordinance that included a recommendation that a court-issued warrant be filed before a keg purchaser’s name is released. Members of the Iowa State chapter of the ACLU have also submitted a similar amendment for Holmes’ consideration.

Opponents feel that a time restriction is not enough, and that the information of buyers should not be accessible to law enforcement without a warrant. They assert that such an amendment would ensure the ordinance allowed police officers only to investigate the private information of buyers when a crime has clearly been committed.

Holmes has expressed apprehension about including such wording in the ordinance.

“I have a particular concern about building language into an ordinance that restricts law enforcement or even implies that law enforcement is going to do something improper,” Holmes said.

Would a ‘time limit’ make keg registration OK? Readers can respond to this Debatable by writing to [email protected]. Readers can also participate in our online poll regarding this issue.

FastTrack

Last We Knew: After Story County Attorney Steve Holmes submitted a revised keg ordinance to the Board of Supervisors, which included a standard $50 keg deposit, the Government of the Student Body and ACLU at Iowa State drafted amendments addressing concerns that law enforcement officers could use retailers’ keg logs to prevent parties.

The Latest: Because of concerns expressed by the ISU student body and local alcohol retailers, Holmes submitted a revised ordinance Tuesday, which includes a requirement that law enforcement wait a minimum of 12 hours after a keg purchase to view retailers’ records and proposes keg retailers set their own deposit fees.

What’s Next: County Supervisors will make the first of three considerations of the ordinance at their Dec. 13 meeting. Comments from the public are welcome at a public forum before the meeting at 9:30 a.m. in the Story County Administration Building, 900 6th St., Nevada.