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Volume 104 • Number 19 • Wednesday, January 29, 2014 • PO Box 188 • 111 E. Jenkins • Maryville, MO • 75¢
Council votes 4-1 to raise bar-age standard Under-21 bar entry to cease on July 1 By TONY BROWN News editor
As expected, the Maryville City Council voted 4-1 at its regular meeting Monday night to ratchet up the minimum entry age for bars and taverns inside the city limits to 21 effective July 1. Twenty-one, is of course, also the minimum legal drinking age in Missouri, but Maryville set a 19 entry standard back in the 1990s. Ironically the age limit was originally adopted not to make things easier on college-age revelers but to keep high school students out of the bars. Before the age-19 minimum was established anyone of any age could enter a bar as long as they didn’t consume alcohol unless they were 21. Last May the council voted 3-2 to leave the longstanding age-19 rule alone. Weighing in that decision was the argument set forth by the Northwest Missouri State University Student Senate, which took the stance that allowing under-21 patrons into bars gives college students a safe place to dance and socialize. Upping the age standard, students told the council, would lead to an increase in the number of “house parties” at private residences where IDs aren’t checked and police don’t patrol. But in the 10 months since the council’s initial vote, the issue continued to simmer as municipal staff, working under the governing board’s direction, began crafting a series of ordinances styled as a “comprehensive policy” governing public alcohol consumption.
“I don’t know that it’s the City Council’s place to find entertaining things for 19- and 20-year-olds to do,” — Jeff Funston As the proposed policy began to take shape, Council Member Jeff Funston, and Mayor Jim Fall, began to have second thoughts. Those thoughts turned into action two weeks ago when both men signaled that they would vote for raising the age limit to 21 if a second vote were held. The shift meant that Renee Riedel became the lone holdout for the age-19 standard, which was opposed from the beginning by council members Ron Moss and Glenn Jonagan. On Monday, Funston noted that most other college towns in Missouri have adopted an age-21 standard. He also dismissed comments by a number of people in the gallery, including university/council liaison and Student Senator Dannen Merrill, that barring 19- and 20-year-olds would leave college students with no place to go. “I don’t know that it’s the City Council’s place to find entertaining things for 19- and 20-year-olds to do,” Funston said. Fall admitted that he found his decision to change his vote a difficult one, but decided in the end that keeping under-21 patrons out of drinking establishments boiled down to a safety issue. “From the information I am seeing, and from what I have read, binge drinking is almost, if not, epidemic,” Fall said. “… I think this is a health issue, and that is the reason I have changed my mind.” See UNDER 21, Page 6
TONY BROWN/DAILY FORUM
Speaking for the opposition
Annette Hoskey, standing at rear, who with her husband, Mick Hoskey, owns Molly’s, a drinking and dancing club on the courthouse square, addresses the Maryville City Council Monday night. The Hoskeys both stated their opposition to raising Maryville’s minimum bar-entry age from 19 to 21. Nevertheless, the council approved the change, effective July 1, on a 4-1 vote.
More liquor rules await decision By TONY BROWN News editor
Now that the Maryville City Council, by a 4-1 vote, has decided to ban 19- and 20-year-olds from local drinking establishments, look for the city’s governing board to begin moving toward passage of a “comprehensive” alcohol policy. Should the various components of that policy gain approval by the council at its next regular meeting Feb. 10, three main sets of regulations affecting public alcohol consumption would be put in place, probably this summer. Among other things, the new rules would abolish drinking on city streets, sidewalks and in most other municipal spaces, in addition to private property that is open to the public, such as store parking lots. Maryville is reportedly the only college town in Missouri without such an ordinance. The so-called “open container” ordinance conSee LIQUOR, Page 6
TONY BROWN/DAILY FORUM
Facing a new reality
Molly’s, a bar and dance club on the east side of the courthouse square, welcomes large groups of under-21 patrons virtually every week during the school year. Owners Mick and Annette Hoskey told the Maryville City Council this week that a new ordinance raising the bar-age entry limit to 21 will have an adverse effect on their business.
Council’s alcohol plan rubs some wrong way By KEVIN BIRDSELL Staff writer
KEVIN BIRDSELL/DAILY FORUM
Concerned about what comes next
Maryville businessman Todd Stagner is voicing concerns about a series of proposed ordinances that provide for major changes in the way the city regulates public consumption of alcohol.
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The City Council passed an ordinance this week that, after July 1, will raise the minimum bar and tavern entry age in Maryville to 21. Other proposals to more strictly control public alcohol consumption — especially by college students — are in the works as well. Additional alcohol measures expected to go before the council in a couple of weeks include restrictions on drinking in public
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and “nuisance parties” plus a new agreement providing for more cooperation between Maryville Public Safety officers and Northwest Missouri State University police. Not everybody is happy about the proposed changes in a town that has traditionally taken a liberal stance with regard to where and when folks can drink. “As an older person going to the bar, I think it’s a good idea because there will be less people,” Northwest student Ty Gaddy, 23, said. “But, from the perspective of a bar
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See ALCOHOL, Page 6
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