The Carbondale City Council decided Tuesday night to delay action on an ordinance that would have required keg buyers to make their purchase information available to the police.
August 29, 1995
The council voted unamiously not to act on city legislation that would have required liquor stores to record a keg purchaser’s name, the address where the kegs are to be consumed, the number of the kegs sold and the date and time of the sale.
Under the ordinance, this information would then be available to the police upon request.
The council passed two other ordinances regulating kegs at its last meeting on Aug. 15. One banned the sale of kegs from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m.. The other made the person in control of the premises responsible for any underage drinking at a keg party.
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It’s just unnecesary, councilman Richard Morris said of thre registration ordinance.
Councilman John Yow agreed.
We have taken perfect control of the situation at the last meeting where we passed the other ordinances, Yow said.
City manger Jeff Doherty said the registration ordinance could be reconsidered later if the council feels it is necessary.
The registration ordinance was originally part of the city legislation banning kegs but was removed at the last meeting when council members decided to take action on it when students returned to school.
Doherty said the intent of the registration was misinterpreted by some people as an attempt to give police a list of keg parties on a given night. He said the real purpose of registration was to complement the ordinance making hosts responsible for underage drinking at a party.
Doherty has previously said that police have no problem finding keg parties that are a problem because they are noisy and people complain about them.
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Information about who purchased a keg would make it easier to enforce the ordinance making people responsible for underage drinking at their parties, Doherty said.
Undergraduate Student Government city affairs commisioner Melissa Altman was also against the ordinance.
We (USG) agree it’s unecessary, she said.
Altman said she hopes the council’s decision is the beginning of more cooperation between USG and the City Council, but is hesitant to be too optimistic because the stronger measures were passed during intersession.
Morris said the benefits of the ordinance did not outweigh its potential problems.
If you’re buying a keg for a family gathering you might wonder why you have to give the information to the police, Morris said. The parts with the real teeth have aleady been passed.
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