Although the city of DeKalb could use its home rule authority to allow underaged NIU students into bars, little support for this measure exists because of law enforcement difficulties.

“It’s a moot issue because the bar owners won’t allow them in,” said 6th Ward Alderman Michael Neylon.

Neylon, along with 1st Ward Alderman Christine Hoagland and 7th Ward Alderman Mark Powell, who represent student-dominated wards, expressed support this fall at a Student Association meeting for changing city ordinances to permit underaged students into DeKalb bars.

State law prohibits anyone under age 21 from drinking or purchasing alcoholic beverages. But home rule communities such as DeKalb can pass an ordinance enabling minors to enter drinking establishments if they do not purchase alcohol.

However, once minors get into bars, city officials and police fear the problem of underaged drinking will intensify.

“Once they’re in the bar, it’s that much more difficult to keep liquor from being consumed by people not allowed to consume it,” said DeKalb City Attorney Ronald Matekaitis. “A person under 21 gets a 7UP, and one over 21 gets whiskey. The whiskey goes into the 7UP, and now the kid’s got a seven and seven.”

Matekaitis said that to realistically prevent underaged students from drinking, bar owners would need to designate special areas for drinkers and nondrinkers. However, he said this might prove an expensive option if owners have to remodel buildings to accommodate these needs.

Most state university communities in Illinois, including those at Champaign, Normal, Macomb and Carbondale, allow 19- and 20-year-olds in bars, but these people cannot purchase or drink alcohol. Bouncers and waiters card students before serving alcohol or use a hand-stamp to separate drinkers from nondrinkers.

At the University of Illinois campus, Champaign permits 19- and 20-year-olds in bars. But police report some difficulties in enforcing the law.

“The problem we have here is when you allow 18- to 20-year-olds into bars and everyone is drinking, it creates the opportunity for abuse,” said Gary Spear, crime analysist for the Champaign Police Department. “I’m not saying everyone who goes into a bar drinks alcohol. A lot of them go into bars to eat hamburgers or play the pinball machines.”

Champaign police’s difficulties enforcing the law are compounded because some college-aged bar owners sympathize with underage drinkers and alert them about police raids, Spear said.

“A law is placed on the books to be observed,” Matekaitis said. “If you are not going to observe it, then take it off the books.”

DeKalb police oppose allowing minors in bars because of the increased violence and law enforcement difficulties. Most major disturbances in the community involve alcohol, said DeKalb Police Chief Joseph Maciejewski.

“We took a survey the last year the 19-year-olds were allowed in bars, and we had about seven officer-injuries a month,” Maciejewski said. “Since that time, we have had so few tavern-documented fights.”

During Fiscal Year 1988, DeKalb police arrested 22 people for misrepresenting their ages at a liquor establishment, 74 minors for illegal possession of alcohol and four minors for illegal consumption. Police also arrested 41 people for other liquor violations.

Third Ward Alderman Bill Hanna opposes permitting underaged people in DeKalb bars because of increased traffic fatalities.

“You have young adults that get into bars and end up getting a drink,” Hanna said. “Then you have people (from surrounding communities who come to DeKalb) who end up getting killed on their way home. I don’t want that on my conscience.”

NIU student Angel Rodriguez, 23, said, “I feel 18-year-olds are inexperienced drinkers. When you have an inexperienced drinker, he jeopardizes my life when I have to go home. I have to face that many more drunken drivers.”

“The bulk of my constituents would probably not be in favor,” said 5th Ward Alderman Bessie Chronopoulos. “People often seem to put the drinking issue and students in the same vein. I resent that being done because I don’t think the students are one-issue-oriented.”

Wednesday: Bar owners’ liabilities in allowing underaged people to drink in their establishments and penalties for minors who do drink in bars or forge IDs to enter bars.

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