Alcohol News: January 2005
Monday, January 31, 2005
Ruling May Affect Team Policies
The Washington Post, January 22, 2005
Professional sports teams and their stadium and arena vendors might have to review their alcohol-related policies in the aftermath of a New Jersey jury this week awarding $135 million to the family of a girl paralyzed in a 1999 automobile accident caused by a drunk driver following a New York Giants football game.
The jury awarded $60 million in compensatory damages Tuesday and $75 million in punitive damages Wednesday to Ronald and Fazila Verni. Their 7-year-old daughter, Antonia, was paralyzed from the neck down in the crash and requires constant care.
The jury assessed the punitive damages against the team's concessionaire at Giants Stadium, Aramark Corp., and split the liability for the compensatory damages evenly between the company and the driver who caused the accident, David Lanzaro. He reportedly had a blood-alcohol level more than double the legal limit at the time of the accident and is serving a five-year jail sentence for vehicular assault. Philadelphia-based Aramark is appealing.
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Alcohol and Sports - An Unhealthy mix
Just Say No? No Need Here
New York Times, NY, January 16, 2005
Like many students enjoying the newfound freedom of college, the young man accelerated the drinking he had begun at prep school. ''You go nuts,'' he explains, looking back, seemingly both amazed and disgusted. At 6-foot-1 and 215 pounds, he was able to put away up to 18 beers a night at weekend parties. ''It was crazy,'' says the student, now a junior at Fairfield University, adding that afterward, ''I'd feel like death all day.''
At one party last spring, he drank so much rum that he doesn't remember anything that happened. Other students complained about his behavior and a graduate assistant escorted him to his room. When a campus security guard showed up to talk to him the next day, ''I was still drunk at 3 p.m.,'' he says.
The university bans alcohol for students under the legal drinking age of 21. Twice before that worrisome blackout, university authorities had penalized him for drinking. For beer in his dormitory room on a ''substance-free'' floor in freshman year, he paid a $50 fine and lost his spot there. The next year...
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WHO targets global alcohol abuse: Study planned to find ways to counter excessive drinking
Reuters, January 20, 2005
The World Health Organization (WHO) agreed on Thursday to launch a study into ways to counter alcohol abuse in what could be the opening shot of an international campaign against excessive drinking.
Its executive board backed a resolution brought by the European Union and others calling on the head of the United Nations health agency to carry out the probe and recommend steps to combat the world’s mounting drink problem, WHO officials said.
The move followed approval by the board of a WHO report drawing attention to the huge health and social costs of alcohol abuse, which killed 1.8 million people worldwide in 2000, the last year for which figures were available.
Although overall consumption appeared to be falling in some industrialized states, more people were “drinking to excess” and alcohol use by young people was rising around the world.
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Bill would put lid on birthday binges
The Houston Chronicle, TX, January 23, 2005
Michael Wagener wasn't a big drinker.
But when he turned 21 in 1999, his friends took him out for the "power hour" - the period between midnight and 1 a.m. when many 21-year-olds take their first legal drink in Texas.
That first drink often turns into two, as it did for Michael. Then three. Then four. Within 30 to 45 minutes, Michael had downed eight or nine 4-ounce shots. He died on his 21st birthday from alcohol poisoning.
"I know they are supposed to be adults when they turn 21, but that isn't the case," said his mother, Susan Wagener, who lives in Porter, north of Houston. "The intent from his friends that night was to get him drunk because that is what you are supposed to do on your 21st birthday."
To prevent others from binge drinking on their 21st birthdays, state Rep. Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands, has filed a bill that would delay the celebration a bit.
The bill would make it illegal for someone to drink alcohol at a bar or restaurant before 7 a.m. on his or her 21st birthday. And if your birthday falls on Sunday, you would have to wait until noon.
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Alcohol and Youth Facts
Keg registration, penalties proposed to curb underage drinking
The Billings Gazette, MT, January 27, 2005
Law enforcement find them abandoned in some of Montana's most remote places.
A cheap and easy buzz, beer kegs tapped in underage drinking parties have become the scourge of many state parks, forests and fishing holes. Sales aren't easy to track, so authorities often find their hands tied in the search for providers.
Rep. Rosie Buzzas, D-Missoula, believes her proposal would go a long way in solving both problems by tracking beer purchases through keg registration and increasing penalties for selling or providing alcohol to minors.
Shoppers would be required to sign a register when buying a keg under the bill, providing their name, address, date of birth, driver's license number, name of the sales clerk, identification number on the keg and date of sale.
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Lawsuits Take Aim at Ads for Alcohol
The Los Angeles Times, CA, January 27, 2005
Casey Goodwin knew all too well the dangers of drinking and driving.
For years, her mother, Lynne, had run programs to fight teen alcohol use in the Tulare County schools. At her high school in the Central Valley town of Exeter, Casey had been involved in student campaigns against underage drinking.
On March 13, 2003, as 20-year-old Casey was headed home from college in San Luis Obispo to celebrate her mom's birthday, a plastered 18-year-old doing 90 miles an hour plowed into her Honda Civic. She died a short time later.
Then Lynne Goodwin and her husband, Reed, turned their anger on the alcohol industry. They signed on as lead plaintiffs in a class-action suit accusing Anheuser-Busch Cos. and Miller Brewing Co. of aggressively marketing to kids.
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Plan to track beer keg sales progresses to House floor
The Denver Post, CO, January 27, 2005
A committee of lawmakers on Wednesday approved the first of several bills cracking down on alcohol abuse that are expected this year.
Wednesday's measure requires tags or labels on beer kegs in an effort to help police crack down on underage drinking.
The House Business Affairs and Labor Committee approved the bill over industry protests that the effort would not work and that it would constitute excessive regulation for liquor retailers. HB1077 next goes to the House floor.
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Monday, January 24, 2005
Ruling May Affect Team Policies
The Washington Post, January 22, 2005
Professional sports teams and their stadium and arena vendors might have to review their alcohol-related policies in the aftermath of a New Jersey jury this week awarding $135 million to the family of a girl paralyzed in a 1999 automobile accident caused by a drunk driver following a New York Giants football game.
The jury awarded $60 million in compensatory damages Tuesday and $75 million in punitive damages Wednesday to Ronald and Fazila Verni. Their 7-year-old daughter, Antonia, was paralyzed from the neck down in the crash and requires constant care.
The jury assessed the punitive damages against the team's concessionaire at Giants Stadium, Aramark Corp., and split the liability for the compensatory damages evenly between the company and the driver who caused the accident, David Lanzaro. He reportedly had a blood-alcohol level more than double the legal limit at the time of the accident and is serving a five-year jail sentence for vehicular assault. Philadelphia-based Aramark is appealing.
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More on responsible beverage service
WHO targets global alcohol abuse: Study planned to find ways to counter excessive drinking
Reuters, January 20, 2005
The World Health Organization (WHO) agreed on Thursday to launch a study into ways to counter alcohol abuse in what could be the opening shot of an international campaign against excessive drinking.
Its executive board backed a resolution brought by the European Union and others calling on the head of the United Nations health agency to carry out the probe and recommend steps to combat the world’s mounting drink problem, WHO officials said.
The move followed approval by the board of a WHO report drawing attention to the huge health and social costs of alcohol abuse, which killed 1.8 million people worldwide in 2000, the last year for which figures were available.
Although overall consumption appeared to be falling in some industrialized states, more people were “drinking to excess” and alcohol use by young people was rising around the world.
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Study shows moderate drinking positive for cognitive health
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, GA, January 20, 2004
Women who imbibe a little wine, beer or spirits every day are less likely than teetotalers to see their memories and other thinking powers fade as they age, according to the largest study to assess alcohol's impact on the brain.
The study of more than 12,000 elderly women found that those who consumed light to moderate amounts of alcohol daily had about a 20 percent lower risk of experiencing problems with their mental abilities later in life.
"Low levels of alcohol appear to have cognitive benefits," said Francine Grodstein of the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, senior author on the study, which is being published in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine. "Women who consistently were drinking about one-half to one drink per day had both less cognitive impairment as well as less decline in their cognitive function compared to women who didn't drink at all."
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Alcohol and Women
Backers of higher liquor tax take up the fight again
St. Louis Today, MO, January 13, 2005
Backers of a bill that would increase Missouri's liquor taxes are hoping Missouri lawmakers read their mail.
Each day, Missouri's Alcohol Impact Coalition delivers fliers to state legislators that advocate an increase in the state alcohol excise taxes, which the coalition says are some of the lowest in the nation. But even as they paper the mailboxes day after day, coalition members realize they face an uphill climb against a strong lobby for Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. and lawmakers' anti-tax mind-set.
The bill's sponsor, Rep. Bill Deeken, R-Jefferson City, notes that it's been 34 years since the Legislature raised beer taxes. "I don't know of anything you can buy today that you bought in 1970 for the same price," he said.
Deeken said the fees will amount to about 2 cents per drink. The new revenue from the taxes, estimated to total more than $44 million a year, would go to a special fund aimed at bolstering law enforcement and alcohol and drug abuse programs in the state.
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Alcohol Use Costs New Mexico Hospitals $75 Million in 2002
New Mexico Department of Public Health, January 21, 2005
At least $75 million in alcohol-related hospital charges were incurred in New Mexico in 2002, according to a
Department of Health Report released today.
The $75 million figure, however, does not include charges from New Mexico residents’ hospitalizations in
neighboring states; charges incurred at federal hospitals, such as Veterans Administration and Indian Health
Services hospitals; charges associated with secondary alcohol-related diagnoses; and all of the alcohol-related
charges associated with injury diagnoses.
“This report demonstrates only part of the financial impact of alcohol abuse in New Mexico,” said Michelle
Lujan Grisham, Secretary of the Department of Health. “Alcohol abuse costs New Mexicans in many ways. In
fact, alcohol-related hospital charges represent less than 10 percent of the total estimated costs of alcohol abuse
in the United States...."
Complete Report (PDF)
Cost of Alcohol Abuse in California (PDF)
Tuesday, January 18, 2005
SABMiller eyes bid for Molson: Brewer waits to seek if Coors offer fails
MSNBC.com, January 13, 2005
Brewing giant SABMiller PLC indicated Wednesday it is interested in making a bid for Molson Inc. should the Canadian brewer's pending merger with Adolph Coors Co. fall apart.
The London-based brewer said in a statement that "a Molson transaction would both have strategic merit and could be value enhancing to SABMiller."
"If the Coors deal is voted down by Molson shareholders, we would welcome the opportunity to discuss a potential transaction that may be attractive to both Molson shareholders and ours," the company added.
Molson and Coors shareholders are scheduled to vote in a week on the planned combination of Canada's biggest brewer and the third biggest U.S. beer company.
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Beer rule at Giants Stadium disputed
The Star-Ledger, NJ, January 6, 2004
A former manager for the beer concessionaire at Giants Stadium testified yesterday that anyone with "common sense" is qualified to serve alcohol at the stadium and decide whether a fan appears drunk.
The testimony by Christopher Finley came as the defense opened its case in the civil trial against Aramark, which holds the liquor license at Giants Stadium. A Cliffside Park couple whose daughter was paralyzed when a drunken football fan crashed into their car claims Aramark "encouraged an atmosphere" that promotes drunken behavior.
The couple claim vendors for Aramark irresponsibly sold too much beer -- including breaking a two-beer limit -- to Daniel Lanzaro, a father of two from Cresskill who crashed into the car carrying 2-year-old Antonia Verni after a game in October 1999.
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Quandary for colleges: how to battle binge drinking
The Christian Science Monitor, January 18, 2005
As Lynn Gordon "Gordie" Bailey Jr. prepared for his freshman year at the University of Colorado last fall, his parents gave him the usual warnings about alcohol - be careful, don't ever drink and drive.
They didn't mention the warning that drinking too much at one sitting could prove fatal.
"That's not even in your realm of thinking," recalls his stepfather, Michael Flanahan. "If it had been, we would have talked about it, and we didn't."
For its part, the university did give advice about alcohol poisoning to Mr. Bailey through an online program required of all freshmen. In addition, strict new rules at the school allowed administrators to suspend students after just two alcohol-related rules violations.
None of this, however, prevented fraternity members from hazing Bailey on Sept. 16 with an initiation ritual that reportedly required him to down gallons of wine and liquor.
By the next morning, he had died, the level of alcohol in his blood more than three times the legal limit for driving in many states.
Now, Bailey's family are asking tougher questions aimed at the university's policies, joining other parents and students appalled by a recent spate of fatal alcohol overdoses around the country.
College administrators, meanwhile, are torn about what to do.
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More on party schools and binge drinking
Bill would bar adults from hosting youth drinking parties
Casper Star Tribune, WY, January 17, 2005
Using a computerized color slide show, students from Cody High School made their pitch Monday morning for a legislative crackdown on alcoholic parties for teenagers hosted by adults.
"We feel there is a large problem not only in our community but also throughout the state," said Melissa Cunningham, a Cody senior.
The youth leaders offered support for House Bill 66, which would create a misdemeanor for anyone -- owner or renter -- who allows an open house party in which alcohol or illegal drugs are possessed or consumed by minors.
HB66, sponsored by Rep. Colin Simpson, R-Cody, would impose a penalty of up to 90 days in jail and up to a $500 fine, or both.
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Underage drinking ban at home is taking hold
The Star-Ledger, NJ, January 16, 2005
Newton police came to the party on a quiet street on a Friday in October because of the noise. But when they got there, they found large quantities of alcohol and mixed drinks and a houseful of teenagers.
The older teens who supplied the liquor were charged, as well as 20 other teens who were charged with underage drinking.
Those other 20 arrests wouldn't have been possible five years ago.
At that time, there was a loophole in state law, in which police could only arrest adults who provided alcohol on private property, but not the minors drinking it.
The loophole began to close in June 2000, when the Legislature enacted a law allowing municipalities to adopt an ordinance prohibiting juveniles from possessing or consuming alcohol on private property.
Today, however, most towns in Morris, Sussex and Warren counties have not bothered to adopt such an ordinance. It's not that they're necessarily against it, but rather it hasn't been a high priority, officials in the three counties said.
In Sussex, the tide has slowly been turning, as nine of 24 towns have adopted the ordinance, according to the Newton-based Center for Prevention and Counseling. That agency is working to have all Sussex towns adopt the ordinance, including the 12 that are covered by the New Jersey State Police.
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Monday, January 10, 2005
More than Four Million Youth Engaged in Drunk or Drugged Driving
JoinTogether.org, January 3, 2005
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) today released data showing that more than 4 million persons aged 16-20 drove under the influence of either alcohol or drugs in the past year, according to 2002 and 2003 reports. This is 21 percent of U.S. youth in that age group. When the two years of data are looked at separately, driving under the influence was reported by 22 percent of 16-20 year olds in 2002 and 20 percent in 2003.
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Full text SAMHSA report
Mom & Pop booze bash for teens
New York Daily News, NY, January 6, 2005
A tony Westchester County town has been rocked by the arrest of a prominent dentist and his wife for hosting a booze-soaked New Year's Eve bash for almost 50 underage high schoolers.
And while law enforcement officials expressed horror that Paul and Christine Taxin would turn their million-dollar Scarsdale home into a speakeasy for their teenage daughter and her friends, students - and even some parents - have rushed to the couple's defense and denounced their arrest.
"It's ridiculous for those parents to get in this much trouble," said Jon Soloff, 17, an Ardsley High School senior who was at the controversial party, held among grand homes with gracious, well-kept lawns.
That argument was angrily rebutted yesterday by Westchester District Attorney Jeanine Pirro, who charged the couple with first-degree unlawful dealing with a child, a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail.
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Holding Adults Responsible
Public alcohol ban could go citywide in Bradenton, Florida
Herald Today, FL, January 7, 2005
The Bradenton, Florida city chief of police plans to ask city leaders to consider expanding a proposed public consumption ban on alcohol for 14th Street West to include the entire city.
Bradenton police officials say banning alcohol consumption on streets and sidewalks throughout the city would give police more muscle to crack down on public drunkenness, especially on problem spots such as 14th Street West. Local police rely on state statutes to penalize people for drinking alcohol in public, but now want their own law.
The ban also would prohibit carrying an open container of alcohol in public.
City-permitted functions, such as Get Down Downtown and other events, are exceptions. Outdoor cafes or bars with outside seating would be exempt from the ban, too.
The proposed ordinance would not apply to private property, police officials said.
"You can drink in your yard; you can drink in your pool," Bradenton Police Chief Mike Radzilowski said. "You just can't walk down the street or sidewalk drinking a beer."
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