Alcohol Prohibition: 34 Bars Paid Not To Sell Booze
Attempting to stop college kids from engaging in the consumption of alcoholic beverages is an impractical endeavor. The majority of college age individuals, between the ages of 18 and 23, are going to participate in risky behavior, including binge drinking, regardless of consequences. The passage of a law or decree, will only incites these young adults by producing the forbidden fruit effect, meaning a tendency for consumers to desire what is forbidden to them. This has not stopped Pennsylvania State University and State College, the town where the university resides, from teaming up to stop the sale of alcohol in local establishments this Saturday February 23, affectionately known as State Patty’s Day.Many of our readers are aware of the fact that Marc, Brian, Dom and I, the four main writers for Lions of Liberty, attended Penn State University. For this reason, we take a heightened interest in this story because many of the establishments impacted by the alcohol prohibition were fixtures on our weekend (read Tuesday) nights at the bars.Penn State’s student run newspaper, The Daily Collegian, provides the details on the bribery of local bars to not serve alcohol.
While some businesses will be closed, some will remain open and serve food only, according to various managers downtown.Even though Mad Mex, 240 S. Pugh St., will be open and serving food on State Patty’s Day, Mad Mex General Manager Molly Wisniewski estimated that the business will lose about $10,000 in profit on Saturday alone by not serving alcohol.The Partnership: Campus & Community United Against Dangerous Drinking, a collection of university and local leaders, announced Tuesday that 34 local State College businesses will not serve or sell alcohol on Saturday.Those 34 businesses that are in support of the “alcohol-free zone” have been provided a $5,000 subsidy by the Partnership in anticipation of revenue losses on Saturday, according to a press release issued by Penn State News on Tuesday.Vice President for Student Affairs Damon Sims, co-chairman of the partnership and vice president for student affairs, said in a media release that the money will come from parking fees from previous State Patty's weekends. Parking officials have kept track of the revenue and directed it to the partnership.Though there wasn’t really a “science” to deciding on the amount of the subsidy, this amount seemed “acceptable across the board,” State College Borough Manager Tom Fountaine said.Even with this subsidy, Fountaine said that some of the businesses will be hit harder than others.
This is an extremely bizarre situation. A University and local community have teamed up in order to prohibit the sale of alcohol. Needless to say this is not a common occurrence. The campus and community partnership cited in the above article is dishing out $170,000 in order to prohibit establishments from meeting the demand of the market.Due to the differing popularity of each business impacted, the ban on the sale of alcohol for the day will have varying effects on lost profits for each business. It makes you wonder how the $5000 payment amount to each business was determined. Certainly, there will be businesses that lose thousands of dollars due to this decree. A majority of the bar owners in State College probably wish they could turn back the clock to 2006, a simpler time, before State Patty’s Day existed.State Patty’s Day was founded in the spring of 2007 when the University scheduled spring break to fall over the St. Patrick’s Day holiday. This scheduling change jeopardized a long-standing tradition of students celebrating St. Patrick’s Day the same way their predecessors had for decades. This included waiting in line at The Phyrst during the wee hours of the morning in anticipation of the bar’s opening or stumbling into a 4 PM class half in the bag, only to realize that you might be more sober than the professor. Basically, St. Patrick’s Day presented students with the opportunity to experience a type of lifestyle they would never again have the opportunity and which would no longer be acceptable behavior in adulthood.If the bribery of local establishments was not bad enough, the local police will be patrolling the hallways of at least one apartment complex and handing out $200 fines for anyone having a party. Onward States has the details.
In a flyer given to all residents, Meridian on College Avenue has stated that it will not allow residents to throw parties from Friday February 22nd through Sunday February 24th. After last years damage to Meridian during State Patty’s weekend, this motion comes as no surprise.The flyer notes that “uniformed police officers will be patrolling the Meridian [all weekend] in an effort to uphold the Zero Tolerance policy for ‘State Patty’s’ weekend.” Any apartment found hosting a party this weekend will be subjected to a $200 fine.The flyer also says that apartments may not have more than double their occupancy at any given time during the weekend, and any disrespect this weekend from residents OR their guests will result in a report being filed with a possibility for eviction.
It appears that this apartment complex is preparing to throw your 4th Amendment rights out the window. This has all the earmarks marks of turning into a door to door search of every apartment.The distinction that property damage over State Patty’s Day weekend is somehow different from property damage on other weekends, makes absolutely no sense. The police and apartment owners have decided to punish current residents in the complex this year for property damage caused by tenets the previous year. This defies logic and the rule of law. The only person that should be punished for damage to property is the individual responsible for property damage.In the spirit of prolonging the tradition of drinking green beer and making bad decisions, State Patty’s Day was born in order to carry on the St. Patrick’s Day tradition. The holiday was scheduled to fall on a Saturday, when students would be free to enjoy the festivities. Student created holidays are similar to taxes, once they are created, even if the reason is no longer applicable, they continue on for eternity. Even after Spring Break was moved to no longer conflict with St. Patrick’s Day in subsequent years, the tradition of State Patty’s Day continued. It has become a time of release and celebration for students to reflect upon the results of their hard work during THON, which raises money for children suffering from cancer. This year, THON, the largest student run philanthropy in the world, raised $12.37 to assist families fight pediatric cancer.The University and town justify these draconian measures by claiming that the State Patty’s Day celebration gives the school and town a bad name. They point to the amount of arrests that occur during the holiday weekend. The local police claim that a majority of the arrests can be attributed to individuals that migrate from outside of the State College area and come only to partake in the celebration. This may in fact be true, but bringing alcohol prohibition to the streets of a small town only intensifies the negative focus already on the school for State Patty’s Day. These tactics will only drive reckless drinking out of public view and into areas more conducive to binge drinking, like house parties.The authorities in central Pennsylvania failed repeatedly in catching child molester Jerry Sandusky. Their poor track record identifying and locking up actual criminals is not disputable. It would be a better policy to spend time and money enforcing already existing laws, rather than trying to stop college kids from drinking. Let these students celebrate a job well done raising $12.37 million to fight pediatric cancer.Receive access to ALL of our EXCLUSIVE bonus audio content – including “Conspiracy Corner”, “Degenerate Gamblers” and the “League of Liberty Podcast” by joining the Lions of Liberty Pride and supporting us on Patreon!
