The Johnsonian

While I respect policemen and what they do, after reading this article, I can't help but be a little upset about what the York County Police are going to be doing with this $100,000 grant they have. Underage drinking is a problem, and I understand they feel they need to do something about it. However, while Officer Barbrady is breaking up the frat party down the street and sending students home (half of whom are of legal drinking age), the

thirty-year old man who has had entirely too much to drink at the sports bar four miles from the college is driving home. What about securing the streets and highways that

drunk drivers  share  with the people that don't even drink at all? South Carolina is number eight in the nation for highway deaths and in the top five for alcohol related

highway deaths. Between 1999 and 2004 underage drinkers have caused only an average of 9% of these accidents. In fact, according to the MADD website, in 2003, 488 South Carolina highway fatalities were alcohol related; over 90% were caused by drivers 21 or older. The truth is, most bars and clubs in this area will not even admit a person under twenty-one into their facilities, so unless the teen has a fake ID, it's the people who are in

the bars drinking legally that the rest of us have to worry about sharing the highway with. The kids at the frat party they are sending home typically walked to get there. It really upset me that All On Board never even mentioned setting up more roadblocks or cracking down on drunk driving. Before this city spends $100,000 on breaking up campus parties, maybe they should take part of that money to keep the drunks, legal age or not, off of the roads.

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