Recent Events Show This Will Not Work Brawl Bait Youths And Booze Make For A Combustible Combination.

Fri., July 23, 1999

By D.F. Oliveria daveo@spokesman.com (509) 319-0354

Anyone with common sense knows booze and minors don’t mix any better than drinking and driving do. That truth was brought home again last month when a rowdy group of drinkers, legal and otherwise, turned a Coeur d’Alene vintage car cruise into a national spectacle. Fueled by alcoholic beverages, loitering young adults and teenagers incited a disturbance that took 115 police officers to quell.

Another axiom is that some minors will do anything to obtain beer, wine or spirits - and other minors will tag along like sheep. We saw this in June when 100 Spokane high school students traveled 90 minutes or so to attend a kegger in Pend Oreille County. Fortunately, an alert sheriff’s deputy sniffed out the kegger and busted the students before any of them died in a traffic accident.

Our society goes to extraordinary lengths to keep tobacco products out of the hands of the underaged. But it winks at teenage keggers and underage drinking. That’s wrong. So is a rule change proposed by the Washington Liquor Control Board to allow the under-21 crowd into dining areas of nightclubs and restaurants to enjoy live shows. Currently, Washington clubs and restaurants cannot offer live entertainment before 9 p.m., and the shows are strictly for those 21 and over. The proposed changes would restrict music to dining areas and ban underage patrons after 10 p.m. if alcohol is being served.

Even those who welcome the changes said they’d proceed with caution. Rick Wyatt, owner of The Fenix in Seattle’s Washington Square, isn’t ready to keep his bar open with minors nearby. “I will personally put on nonalcoholic all-age events,” he said. “It is a dangerous environment, mixing alcohol and minors. Others may choose to do it differently if they feel like they can control the situation.”

As a matter of fact, the Joint Artists and Music Promotions Political Action Committee of Seattle doesn’t think the proposals go far enough. It wants Seattle to follow the lead of other large cities and allow all 21-and-over clubs to open their doors to a younger audience.

The brawl that closed a popular Spokane Valley teen club last weekend proves this area isn’t ready for looser rules. Even without alcohol present at Club Spokane, sheriff’s deputies faced a “very large, hostile and uncooperative” crowd of youngsters.

The Washington Liquor Control Board needs to come to its senses.

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