The Red and Black

Issue date: 6/7/07 Section: News

Media Credit: JENNA FINDLAN Jen Benoit (Left), Paige Rechtman (Middle) and Conner Taylor (Right) enjoy a drink outside Copper Creek Tuesday. The Athens-Clarke County Commission will meet with bar owners about limiting alcohol consumption.

The local bar scene may change after the Athens-Clarke County Commissioners and bar owners discuss new legislation that could affect the student body as soon as this year.

If the legislation is approved, bartenders will be required to be at least 21 years old and doormen will have to complete a certification process in order to keep their jobs.

But ACC Commissioner Andy Herod said this legislation is far from being proposed and is only presently being explored.

Mike Usry, owner of the Village Idiot and Rumor on Clayton Street, said the legislation in the works could make it so "anyone who touches alcohol will be 21."

In the conversations between commissioners and bar owners, the officials were mostly focused on improving the hiring standards of bar employees.

With new legislation, the doormen will now be prosecuted along with the bartender. In the past, the bartenders were the only ones charged, Usry said.

The commissioners believe that the risk of prosecution along with employing only certified doormen will help to decrease underage drinking in Athens.

According to a March report in The Red & Black, the county commission has also discussed doing away with drink specials, such as "happy hours."

This and other limitations, such as one dollar drink minimums and limiting purchases, are intended to prevent underage drinking, lawmakers said.

Usry said he agrees with the goal of reducing underage drinking but said he believes the coalition is suggesting ideas that will not happen.

"The coalition is trying to create collusion with pricing in all bars," Usry said.

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