George Belitsos wrote (April 22 letter, “Underage drinking a cause of riot”) that alcohol abuse could be curbed during the Veishea celebration if his points were followed.

I have a few problems with his fix to the overconsumption of alcohol.

1. Eliminate bar drink specials (expansion of the Ames drinking buffet ordinance).

This ordinance is stepping on the feet of both students and bar owners. Along with the price of alcohol increasing at the bar, the number of people who attend the bar will decrease (the desired effect).

However, with the decrease in customers, there will be a decrease in the amount of profits that the owners make and therefore make their living harder.

So I purpose, to make everything even between bar owners and the rest of the “adult” community, that everyone must take a mandatory 5 percent reduction in wages and salaries to go toward alcohol awareness for college students.

2. Require alcohol merchants to eliminate all drink specials two weeks prior to Veishea including bars, grocery stores and convenience stores.

If the above is passed, there would be no need for the bars to end their drink specials, as they wouldn’t have any.

The one thing I’ve noticed about college students is they tend to be very crafty. Eliminating the sales of alcohol two weeks before Veishea will only cause students to buy alcohol three weeks in advance.

3. Crack down on alcohol bootlegging practices including private party cover charges, cup sales, entertainment fees and charging at the door for private parties. Increase penalties and enforcement.

Cracking down on bootlegging will not change the amount of parties that go on; it may just increase the amount of house parties.

These house parties would just become “Bring Your Own Beer” to get around the bootlegging clauses.

Another example of a poorly thought out campaign is in entertainment fees. If this were to be enforced, I would not be able to see local artists at any other venue other than an officially recognized one. This has repercussions past the college group.

4. Increase the excise tax on alcohol (Legislature) and use the money for expanded alcohol education and prevention.

Again, being the crafty college student I am, one way to get around this is for the college student to go out of state, say Illinois, and buy vast amounts of alcohol.

An added benefit to this is no can deposit to buy, but one could redeem the can deposit at his or her local Hy-Vee.

5. Expand police-conducted alcohol compliance checks; this will help reduce illegal alcohol sales to underage youth.

Now I doubt this comes as a surprise to the college crowd but we’re at that awkward stage where it is legal for some friends to purchase alcoholic beverages while other friends aren’t allowed. So what does one logically do in such a situation? Have a friend or a friend of a friend buy the alcohol.

6. Expand campaign to educate ISU students and public school youth about the health and legal consequences of drinking. I do believe that the educated public already knows the health and legal consequences of drinking, and we still choose to drink.

7. Urge the ISU Athletic Department to pledge to eliminate alcohol-related television ads during sports events. One hundred five schools have already joined the campaign for alcohol-free sports television.

Once again, I do not believe that this is sound financial advice. Where does one propose that the ISU athletic department find the lost funding that those advertisements give them in this time of budget cuts and college mergers?

Andrew Harrison

Senior

Economics