Alcohol ban at Warrior tailgate parties should work

THE ISSUE The Aloha Stadium Authority is considering a proposal to ban alcohol in tailgate parties at the parking lot.

ALCOHOL will be banned at tailgate parties but beer sales will continue inside the stadium during University of Hawaii football games, according to an innovative plan being considered by the Aloha Stadium Authority. The plan clashes with proposals by Lt. Gov. Duke Aiona and David McClain, UH's interim president, but it should be effective in reducing raucous, alcohol-induced misbehavior.

Aiona proposed a ban on drinking both inside the stadium and at tailgate parties, while McClain said concessionaires should stop serving beer in the stadium but doubted that declaring the parking lot to be a dry zone would be enforceable. Indeed, Aloha Stadium may become the only college football venue next season where drinking will be allowed inside the stadium but not in its periphery.

Yale initiated a policy on Saturday in its game against Brown forcing all tailgate parties to close "for the day" after half-time. The policy is aimed at undergraduates known to party all day in the parking lot with no intention of setting foot inside the Yale Bowl. It drew little complaint, but the true test will be the heated Harvard-Yale contest on Nov. 19. "The Game," dating to 1875, attracts nearly as many people outside the stadium as inside.

At UH games, fans are allowed to purchase one beer at a time, and sales are halted after half-time. Marsha Klompus, a stadium authority member, noted that "it's obvious people who are making trouble are coming into the stadium already under the influence."

The problem with the plan might be enforcement. Boise State, along with UH a Western Athletic Conference member, prohibits alcohol inside and outside Bronco Stadium, and police patrol the parking lot for obvious violators.

"If it's discreet and you can't tell what it is, we don't come around and sniff your cups and we don't go into your motor home," police Sgt. Stan Niccolls told the Star-Bulletin's Craig Gima. Alcohol is allowed to be served inside corporate beer tents.

The Aloha Stadium plan would not eliminate all drinking before the game. Koa Anuenue, the UH athletic boosters club, and some visiting teams host pre-kickoff parties inside the stadium. People attending those parties will be allowed to both wine and dine, said stadium spokesman Patrick Leonard. Binge drinking is not likely in such a setting.

The Associated Students of the University of Hawaii passed a resolution last summer opposing a ban on beer sales inside the stadium. Katie Barry, a student senator, said the stadium authority's process in reaching a decision "is obviously being rushed."

The policy, if approved, is likely to discourage those who consider tailgating as the main event. Attendance at the game itself is likely to depend on the success of the UH team, not the availability of alcohol in the parking lot.