" Wouldn't it be a bloomin' shame if a person couldn't drink alcohol for that extra hour or two? It's so cool. "

" So what's next for the glorious mayor of Charleston, allowing teenagers back into the taverns days, as in days of old. I'm predicting that will be his next move. "

" Do the comments mean that the posters are against adding the extra hour? Will the difference even be noticeable?

Did you read recently that 100 of the largest universities presidents are considering a proposal to lower the drinking age back to 18?

Have you noticed that towns with strong Catholic roots have looser drinking rules and stronger community networks, personal relationships and leadership.

The extended hour is a good step. We should also consider having more bars. More commerce and free enterprise is good. More personal responsibility is good. If drunken behavior is the problem then let's correct the problem. Not curtail responsible peoples freedom.

One small step for the City of Charleston. One giant step for free enterprise. "

" College kids have proven that many are not responsible. They like to party, not just sit at home and drink a beer. "

" Raptor, yes, and Mississippi wants to lower the legal marriage age to 9, but only if the bride and groom are already in a parent/child relationship, creating an ideal environment for stronger community networks, personal relationships and leadership, don't you think? "

" Just what my alcoholic ex needs is more booze hours. He already sits in front of couple places til they open and then checks hours other places. Paid on friday, broke by sunday,,,,and why he is my ex. He has woman his age with good job,,,,and she can have him and his I AM BROKE excuses. He plays slots and has bad gambling addiction. BOY WILL SHE LEARN. hehe. He always pick ugly women he says cause give ya their money and he is handsome. Well I was just one who wasn't so ugly, but I sure tired of him in door, stumbling over furniture, trying get pantsoff with shoes on, trip on recliner, then holding onto walls to toilet, then hugging the toilet bowl. Thank God I kept it clean he about drowned once.
Of course probably taste like beer.
He laid on floor passed out often so covered him up and even the dog, cat, looked at him in disgust and his vomiting. Son said he learned how not to be when grownup,,,,,and we thought he was such a clown when drunk, we had to laugh. It is sad he has wasted his whole life being a jerk but son and I turned out okay in spite of it all. It was time to tell him find another woman as I was done with him.

If anyone in this drinkingman relationship take it from me,,,,get rid of him. We have saved $1200 in just 3 months without him around.

I don't miss the cleanup either. "

" Did you read recently that 100 of the largest universities presidents are considering a proposal to lower the drinking age back to 18?

I read that too, and it looks like the university presidents want to push their problems back onto the communities surrounding their campuses. They need to focus on curtailing the problem rather than to foist it off onto someone else. But I suppose it would be easier for them to do that than to actually address the problem.

I'm sure this issue will hit our local community, and there will be those pushing for it here too. Fortunately there are a lot of people who remember the problems associated with having teenagers in the bars in the fine little town of Charleston, and will not wish to go back to that disastrous mess.

The federal transportation folks are the ones who pushed for the 21 year old drinking laws, and after seeing such a decrease in the numbers of deaths of young people, I doubt they will be anxious to return to the days of allowing immature teenagers to drink alcohol legally.

Unless the alcohol industry takes control of the federal government, like they have the Illinois Liquor commission, I think we're safe for now. "

" I am divided on lowering the drinking age to 18. I think there are definitely two sides, two ideas to either allowing them to drink, or not.

My experience as a parent (and a former teenager, ha ha) has shown me that teenagers drink whether there is a law preventing it or not. Especially when they leave home for the first time and are out the sight of mommy and daddy, and their peers purchase it for them. No law will prevent that.


I also struggle with the usual argument - if my daughter can give her life for her country, vote and receive all the other rights and privileges as an adult, why can't she have a beer? It doesn't seem quite right.


On the other hand, it has been proven that there are fewer deaths, etc. because the drinking age has been 21 for over 20 years.


If the government insists on 21 as the drinking age, then the legal age of adulthood should be 21. They should not be allowed to join the military or vote until age 21. Why not make it all the same age? Let's raise the age of legal adulthood. I'd be happy to keep my kids until then. "

" Drinking alcohol and the military are two completely different subjects. Kids can join the army at 18 but not drink before they are 21 because they mature physically before they mature emotionally or mentally. What is hard to understand about that? "

" Hi Gringa. That reply was hilarious. No cynicism there.

I'm sticking with what I believe. Stronger community networks, personal relationships and leadership.

The 18 year old drinking age won't fly for a long time. We're not that liberal yet.

Perhaps a better focus for our kids would be entrepreneurship training. Perhaps if we introduce it into our schools at younger ages than college we would see entrepreneurs sooner. Let's learn from Effingham. "

" sapient wrote on Aug 20, 2008 2:29 PM:

" Drinking alcohol and the military are two completely different subjects. Kids can join the army at 18 but not drink before they are 21 because they mature physically before they mature emotionally or mentally. What is hard to understand about that? "

whats hard to understand is that you allow an 18 yr old to defend our country, teach him to be a man, but he cant relax w/a beer when hes not on duty? "

" Sapient, You make a good point. I think all of the young mentally immature soldiers would really appreciate your post. Do we really have emotionally immature "kids" as you call it fighting in a war? I guess you really summed it up. Makes one realize that we really SHOULDN'T have soldiers that are under the age of 21. "

" Kids can join the army at 18 but not drink before they are 21 because they mature physically before they mature emotionally or mentally. What is hard to understand about that?
-----------
So you want to make killers out of kids whom you say are emotionally and mentally immature? Great plan. "

" This isn't even about the drinking age. A few people stated a decent cause behind wanting to extend the sale and because they were civil about it why not give them their extra hour for sports. Did anyone even read this? "

" It's been awhile since I've been to a Cards game, but I seem to remember that alcohol sales are cut off after the 7th inning. Why not do the same thing in Charleston bars? No alcohol sales, or consumption, after 11:00, but the fans are free to stay around to watch the end of the game all night long if necessary. This doesn't sound like a very complicated issue. "

" Keep the drinking age at 21. Full time military (not Guard or Reserves) can show their military IDs to get a beer between ages 18 to 21. They can only drink at a bar; they can not purchase packaged beer/liquor.
Just an idea. "

" To "Raptor": One of the college presidents who OPPOSES lowering the legal drinking age is Joanne Glasser, President of Bradley University in Peoria. Her opposition is influenced by the fact of several deaths of BU students directly related to alcohol use over the past approximate year. This issue is not about rights and responsibilities. It is only about increasing the profits of those who make money from selling alcohol. One more hour won't make one bit of difference except to one group: those who want to squeeze every last possible dime out of the pockets of drinkers. Let's just make it open and official in Charleston and make it a town totally devoted to student rentals and bars. Beer and bars 24/7 and party houses. That should raise the quality of life here considerably and it should definitely contribute greatly to those "first in class" goals at EIU. "

" To injustice85: The change of subject to the drinking age was just to spice up the conversation. It worked nicely. To change the time one hour on Sunday is a no brainer. Who cares? If the city of Charleston had "Home Rule" it would be easier to implement these changes.

Dottedline: You had me until the "all or nothing" thinking about 24/7 bars and party houses. And squeezing every last dime from drinkers. Of course we wouldn't want that. Who would? Personal responsibility in a civilized society and community is the issue. Isn't it?

The reasoned approach of the BU President is instructive. Thanks for sharing that.

Do you really think it is realistic that the drinking age will change anytime soon? Not likely. "

" either way raptor i think the drinking age change idea is stupid, people binge drink because other recreation doesn't exist like it used too, besides people are completely indoor oriented with computers and video games so no one even leaves home which creates these binge parties in the first place, but yes we need to hit this problem at the roots not off the surface, alcohol companies can still advertise on television but tobacco companies cannot, no justice there, rarely any anti-alcohol commercials either "