CU Bars in the News; Latest round of bar checks yields 28 citations

Latest round of bar checks yields 28 citations

From the News-gazette (and their horribly redesigned website that doesn't function well).

Here's the full story.

CHAMPAIGN – Police and state troopers issued 29 tickets for underage drinking in checks of campus bars Friday.

Police inspected five campus bars Friday night. They issued 28 citations for minors in possession of or buying alcohol and one for theft of services.

Locations and tickets in Friday's checks included:

– Kam's, 618 E. Daniel St., C, nine.

– Clybourne, 706 S. Sixth St., C, seven.

– Murphy's Pub, 604 E. Green St., C, six.

– Joe's Brewery, 706 S. Fifth St., C, four.

– Fubar, 306 1/2 E. Green St., C, three.

It's still odd that Champaign turned down funds to pay for the police to do this job.

Here's an older article that is really interesting.

Drop in underage-drinking tickets causes dip in court revenue

The story is from a year ago, but it makes you wonder about recent enforcement efforts. Here's some selected quotes:

In the underage alcohol offense category, 491 fewer tickets – a 33 percent decrease – were issued in 2008 than in 2007. The minimum fine for that offense is $300.

If there's a minimum fine of $300 (from a year ago, it's probably higher now) and 28 citations were issued Friday, that's an $8400 gain for a night.

The 2008 annual report of the legal department on its city court prosecutions shows that revenue was down $120,275 from 2007, a result of 480 fewer tickets issued for all city ordinance violations.

Every government seems to be broke now. If people aren't paying enough in taxes, the money has to come from somewhere.

If you read the article, you'll see that the police and the city aren't trying to prevent underage drinking, they are trying to make money off people who commit them. The story attempts to pain a picture that less underage drinking will make less other crimes.

It seems they are going back to underage drinking as a revenue stream. If they were smart, the city would figure out a way to make more money off the people who are going to be doing it anyway.