Underage drinking targeted at Edgerton town hall meeting
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An effort to curb underage drinking in Edgerton is getting backing from state lawmakers and the city's mayor. State Senator Judy Robson, Assemblyman Kim Hixson and Mayor Erik Thompson spoke to a community meeting Monday organized by the Edgerton Coalition for a Healthy Community. Kyle Geissler reports. You can read more in Tuesday's Janesville Gazette.
Problem solvers?
Sen. Judy Robson and Rep. Kim Hixson spoke Monday of proposals before the state Legislature to curb alcohol abuse. Proposals include:
-- Repealing the law allowing people under 18 to drink alcohol in bars when accompanied by parents.
-- Raising the beer tax.
-- Prohibiting all-you-can-drink tavern specials.
-- Requiring bartenders to maintain absolute sobriety while serving customers.
-- Requiring ignition interlocks on vehicles for second-offense drunken drivers.
-- Making third-offense drunken driving a felony.
-- Requiring jail time for first-offense drunken driving.
EDGERTON — The speakers at Edgerton's second annual town hall meeting on underage drinking came from different places, geographically and mentally.
State Rep. Kim Hixson moved to Wisconsin from Tennessee 13 years ago and soon learned Wisconsin has a "culture of drinking," he said.
Edgerton Mayor Erik Thompson spent much of his youth in Edgerton. He participated in the culture of drinking in high school and beyond until he gave up alcohol this year, he said.
But the two men share a common goal: ending underage drinking in Wisconsin.
Speakers and community members discussed local and statewide efforts to achieve that goal at a community meeting Monday organized by the Edgerton Coalition for a Healthy Community.
The coalition formed after a 2005 study found Edgerton teens were more likely to use alcohol than their peers. Since then, it's worked to change the prevalence of underage drinking through lobbying and education.
Underage drinking in Edgerton got even more attention in November when a New York Times writer made the city the centerpiece of an article about Wisconsin drinking. The article highlighted Wisconsin's law allowing parents to give their minor children alcohol in bars.
The article had Thompson "seeing red," but it also helped build momentum for Monday's meeting, he said.
"I thank the author of that article for bringing that forward because it made me think about my own personal choices," he said.
Since then, Thompson has led a charge with Hixson and state Sen. Judy Robson to prohibit parents from bringing children younger than 18 into bars.
Hixson and Robson spoke of other state efforts to curb alcohol abuse Monday, including proposals to raise the beer tax and impose stiffer penalties on drunken drivers.
While some legislators might say the government shouldn't embarrass drunken drivers, Hixson sees things differently, he said.
He told about his teen sweetheart, who was killed by a drunken driver 10 days before her 18th birthday.
"She was a very beautiful young lady," he said. "She had a lot to offer. But just because some guy decided that his having a good time was more important than the safety of innocent people, she gave up her life. It's just not right."
Brad Demrow of Rock County Partners in Prevention and Erin Springstead, Edgerton High School counselor, talked about local efforts to change the culture. Edgerton coalition activities over the past year include a parent mentoring program, public service announcements and enforcement efforts with the Edgerton Police Department, Demrow said.
The publicity already has made a difference with at least one group, moderator Victor Gonzalez said. The Edgerton Noon Rotary Club, of which he is a member, decided this year to exclude alcohol from its annual fun run.
But there's still much work to be done, speakers said.
"Sometimes you have to shout very loudly," Hixson said. "Sometimes you have to do it a lot. But we (the Legislature) will get the message."
May 21, 2009 at 2:17 p.m.
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my facts are straight. i just didnt clarify the diff from beer/liquor. i called it alcohol. fuzzy facts i guess;) now that you clarified it for me...i can see your point. 6.5 cents tax on a gallon of beer is more than fair, and they DID just raise it 40 years ago...so even tho EVERYTHING else has gone up...lets leave the BEER alone. we collect enough dough with all the idiots who dont know the meaning of 'responsible drinker' in owis that we should be ok. in fact...i say we stop putting drunk drivers in jail and call it a revenue source. hmmmm all this talk of beer has me thirsty. its noon somewhere rite?? oh yeah, it is here. good day.
May 20, 2009 at 8:44 p.m.
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heroin is a much bigger problem, in milton 3 8th graders overdosed on heroin and one is still in the hospital.
May 20, 2009 at 5:18 p.m.
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Stop underage drinking? I think you would have better luck getting Brett Favre back into a Packer jersey. This problem has gone on for too long. You'll never stop it.
May 20, 2009 at 11:47 a.m.
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So the New York Times embarrasses Edgerton with a story about kids in bars, and the senator and representative add insult to injury by proposing legislation. What are they going to say when it passes? "This bill was inspired by a backward little town that I represent!" ?? Hey, they represent Milton too...why not do something about heroin use. I think that's a scarier problem than a kid drinking a beer with their parent.
May 20, 2009 at 11:13 a.m.
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I am a drinker but a responsible one at that and I would support a tax on alcohol. It just doesnt sound right to tax tobacco and not alcohol especially if it hasnt for the last so many years. I would like to point out, alot of the problems we have with drinking now are because of the ways kids are raised but not all. You can only educate so much and try to police so much before someone will just drink and drive without thinking. I am also for tougher drinking and driving laws. I would give the first offense counseling with a heavy fine (things just happen and poor choice). The second offense I would suspend there license and heavy fine and key ignition lock with conseling. The third offense all of the above but lock them up for 10 years. You have to start making the offenses double if not triple the consequences, because the laws we have right now are not stern enough. There are to many offenses I see in the paper that are either at 3,4,5 or 6 and still do not get a clue.
May 20, 2009 at 11:10 a.m.
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Wisconsin was settled by Germans, Norwegians, Swiss and Polish. So it's not really a surprise that those people brought over their traditions with alcohol. It's also not a surprise that in a blue collar town such as Edgerton that those traditions are still alive and well. Should young children under 18 have multiple drinks? No. Just because we all did it doesn't make it right. You're not going to stop it though unless parents teach children to respect alcohol. Parents either make kids afraid of it or they show by example that it's alright to get hammered. On the other end, if you can go to war for your country you should be able to drink a beer with other vets. The country trusts you with automatic weapons, but doesn't trust you with an Old Milwaukee????
The mayor giving up drinking......who cares.
So, come to Edgerton....it's not a bad little town. If you are lucky you'll find a field party or bonfire to enjoy. If you want the "old fashion" Edgerton experience, you won't get it anymore. All the taverns downtown have become updated "bars" that have lost all sense of small town Wisconsin.
May 20, 2009 at 10:48 a.m.
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I to am from edgerton. I grew up in a time when it was "0k" drink when you were a teenager, thats just what you did. Its hard to teach your kids to do the right thing when so many of their peers are doing the wrong thing. Edgerton is known for drinking, and tobacco. I love living in this town, i was born and raised here. Lets face it it doesnt help the effort when you have 5 or 6 bars right down town. not a good message in my oppinon
May 20, 2009 at 9:10 a.m.
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The story and the sidebar say two different things....would the law prohibit minors from being IN bars with their parents, or DRINKING in them with their parents? Prohibiting them from being IN the bar with their parents is overkill, but I wouldn't doubt that do-gooders like Robson and Hixson would propose such a thing.
May 20, 2009 at 8:53 a.m.
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That is one tax increase that is overdue. Come on, 40 years??
May 20, 2009 at 8:32 a.m.
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the state alcohol tax is 6.5 cents per gallon. janesvillean is correct...the tax hasnt gone up in 40 YEARS!!. even drinkers have to acknowledge they should pay their share. they tax the living tar out of cigs. they want to raise the gas tax ANOTHER 3 cents/gallon, even tho we are already in the top ten in the country. RAISE THE ALCOHOL TAX ALREADY
May 20, 2009 at 8:16 a.m.
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Elimination of the numerical drinking age, coupled with education, and proper parental involvement is the only answer that makes sense. Alcohol is popular among teens for one overriding reason--the taboo factor. Make it legal, and it will not be cool. Any reasonable person should see that this will result in less abuse and less dependency over time.
May 20, 2009 at 8 a.m.
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I live in Edgerton and I have actually one of the youngest children to ever have an alcohol overdose in this town. The kid who provided her alcohol also brought her home that night and told me to put her to bed when she couldnt even respond to me. And all the kid got was a fine. I think the penaltys for the servers to minors should be a harsher penalty. Whether the other person is a minor too. She almost died that night with a blood alcohol level of over .40 her heart could of stopped at anytime. When I was young my father gave me alcohol but now it is too readily available to minors because the parents are too busy with their lives to care about their kids. But as far as taxing it come on those who are over the legal age and know when to stop for their safety and others should not be penalized because other people are too much of an idiot to stop. Start making it a mandatory prison sentence for serving minors or to the minors serving minors and quit putting people in jail for nonsense and start worrying about the real problems that need to be solved. As for the kid who served mine he crosses the street when he sees me coming. And when my daughter went to court about her ticket for underage Edgerton has no community service instead of a fine. Make them work. Do the crime make them work off their fine!
May 20, 2009 at 1:18 a.m.
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Clearly, the alcohol culture of Wisconsin will not end soon with these sentiments.
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The beer tax should be raised; it's one of the lowest in the country and hasn't been touched in decades. With inflation, that means that the tax has been DECREASING every year.
May 19, 2009 at 7:45 p.m.
May 19, 2009 at 7:42 p.m.
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This is a load of crap. From the beer tax to the uneducation of proper drinking. First of all let me say that when I was a kid there were a few times when me and my dad would leave the field and go to the bar and have a burger and what not. He knowing that he had to drive, especially with his son, didn't drink. Plan and simple. He educated me on responsible drinking. You want to get parents to start working on it? How about when a kid gets an underage ticket, if under 18, the parent gets a nice $1000 fine. That will change the sight of things a bit. OH and in case your wondering, I never got a underage (not because I didn't drink), I have never had a DUI (because I don't drink and drive) and most of the time I go to the bar I have a Mtn Dew and shoot some pool because I learned a long time ago thanks to my parents that getting drunk really isn't that much fun
May 19, 2009 at 6:43 p.m.
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Why am I not surprised that Judy Robson's first suggestion to help combat alcohol abuse is to raise yet another tax. She's been Jim Doyle's lap dog for years, nodding her head like a bobblehead doll every time the gov. wants to reach further into our pockets.
And as for all of the community leaders in Edgerton who want to stand up to be counted when it's time to give phony lip service to the problem why don't you put your money where your mouth is? Every year for the past 4 years or so around this time I read about how the police department in Edgerton requests that the city approve a fenced off beer garden for "Heritage Days" to help reduce the possibility of underagers being given alcohol, and also to help limit other alcohol related problems. Every year it gets turned down and I read excuses like "a fence would ruin the family atmosphere". And your wondering why you have a drinking issue? Wake up folks, and smell the coffee.
May 19, 2009 at 5:36 p.m.
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Maybe we should outfit everybody with an alcohol monitor with GPS tracker. You know, if you haven't done anything wrong, you shouldn't care if you're monitored, right?
May 19, 2009 at 5:18 p.m.
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All of the problem solvers listed sound great to me.
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