Drinking To Excess

On August 28, our local NBC affiliate Today’s TMJ4 ran a piece on its 10 o’clock newscast about a 20 year-old Jesse Drews, who on the eve of his 21st birthday, went out to a local tavern and drank 18 shots of Everclear within an hour to celebrate his milestone.

A few hours later he died of alcohol poisoning with a blood alcohol of almost four.

At issue in the piece was not the fact that he drank all those shots or about his Drinking To Excess. What was the point was the fact that somebody served them to him. Serving 18 shots, one after another, is not a good idea.

It was the story of a grieving mother, Jody Drews, who was looking forward to a birthday celebration with her son, but wound up making funeral arrangements instead.

Of particular interest was the conversation reporter John Mercure had with Fond du Lac District Attorney Mike O’Rourke. There are laws on the Wisconsin State books concerning serving “drunk” customers.

But the law has no teeth.

Prosecutors around the state won’t touch cases like these. O’Rourke told the reporter that the young man drank all of those shots in a very short period of time and it would have taken him about an hour to show signs of intoxication.

The DA went on to say that it was his opinion that there was not enough evidence to prosecute criminally, but the he believed the bartender and the tavern have responsibility in the young man’s death, a lot of responsibility, but not criminal responsibility.

Witnesses said that an hour after the first shot was served to Jesse, the bartender did stop serving him.

If a customer is not showing signs of being drunk or of Drinking To Excess, when should the bartender cut him off? O’Rourke says the legislature his tied prosecutor’s hands.

Another player in this tragedy is the Wisconsin Tavern League, a very powerful lobby in this state. Understand that taverns and drinking are a huge part of the culture in Wisconsin. The WTL has a strong lobbying effort going with politicians.

They would not consent to an interview with the reporter for the television story, but if you just look at it logically, they would fight hard against any legislation that would in any way negatively impact their clients.

Kari Kinnard, the executive director of the Wisconsin Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) called the whole situation “disheartening and discouraging.”

I suppose there is plenty of blame to go around. The young man did not demonstrate any common sense when he drank all that liquor. His friends were probably buying and rooting him on. Maybe he was never taught about the dangers of drinking and he certainly had little or no knowledge of alcohol poisoning.

The bartender could have cut him off sooner. The tavern could have set a limit on the number of drinks in one hour a customer may order. The legislature could have passed laws that could be enforced. The Tavern League could have bent a little and allowed the legislators to do their job with out fear of pulling financial support.

Who’s to blame? Everybody.

People do not understand personal responsibility. 20 year-olds are invincible. They will live forever, so they do stupid things. Jesse Drews paid a huge price for not thinking, and I grieve for his family. The laws are a joke.

The Wisconsin State Legislature checks out on most issues, so if they can’t pass a budget, why should they pass drunk driving laws, or public intoxication laws, or tavern responsibility laws, or any common sense measure that would help us all avoid these kinds of tragedies? Alcohol is a huge problem, but it’s swept under the carpet because it’s messy.

I used to own a business located immediately next door to a tavern, in the same building. It was one of those typical Milwaukee taverns. On the south side especially there might be a little, “ma and pa” tavern on each corner.

People in the neighborhood would patronize all of them. There was always somebody in there, at any time of day. It was deeply rooted in local culture. In order to change anything, you first have to change the culture. But that isn’t good for business, is it?

For me, it all boils down to personal responsibility. I don’t have any feeling one way or the other about the Wisconsin Tavern League or the bar owners in the state. I believe in free will and our opportunity to exercise that free will.

I don’t want the state telling me how to behave, like telling me I can’t go into a tavern and drink too much. I am accountable for that. Wisconsin is like so many other states in the country, passed so many of those “nanny” laws on the books, designed to protect people from themselves.

There are potentially dreadful consequences to a stupid decision. Again, there is plenty of blame to go around and each one of us has to accept responsibility for our actions.

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