Posted on 11/17/2008 7:02:01 PM PST by Eric Blair 2084
When a 15-year-old comes into Wile-e’s bar looking for a cold beer, the bartender, Mike Whaley, is happy to serve it up — as long as a parent is there to give permission.
“If they’re 15, 16, 17, it’s fine if they want to sit down and have a few beers,” said Mr. Whaley, who owns the tavern in this small town in southern Wisconsin.
While it might raise some eyebrows in most of America, it is perfectly legal in Wisconsin. Minors can drink alcohol in a bar or restaurant in Wisconsin if they are accompanied by a parent or legal guardian who gives consent. While there is no state law setting a minimum age, bartenders can use their discretion in deciding whom to serve.
When it comes to drinking, it seems, no state keeps pace with Wisconsin. This state, long famous for its breweries, has led the nation in binge drinking in every year since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began its surveys on the problem more than a decade ago. Binge drinking is defined as five drinks in a sitting for a man, four for a woman.
People in Wisconsin are more likely than anywhere else to drive drunk, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. The state has among the highest incidence of drunken driving deaths in the United States.
Now some Wisconsin health officials and civic leaders are calling for the state to sober up. A coalition called All-Wisconsin Alcohol Risk Education started a campaign last week to push for tougher drunken driving laws, an increase in screening for alcohol abuse at health clinics and a greater awareness of drinking problems generally.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
That is just life in small town Wisconsin.
And although I do know many "binge" drinkers, and a few alcoholics, the vast majority of people I know are social drinkers only. Myself, I limit myself to 2 - 3 (depending on how long I am out) because I am afflicted with "spinning bed syndrome" if I have more than that. And that my friend is no fun at all! My husband rarely has more than one beer, if he drinks at all so I always have a driver even though I don't drink that much.
To whom it may concern.
You had better learn to mind your own d@mned business you lousy busybodies!
“Freedom begins when you tell Mrs. Grundy to go fly a kite.” - Robert A. Heinlein.
Let me ask you a question if I may?
Why are there so many taverns in Wisconsin?
I mean you come up to an intersection and there are two or three on this corner. You go down another intersection or two and again two or three taverns on one corner.
Why?
Are they that varied? Different music? Different brends?
Or do ya go get snockered at and banned from one and just head to another?
Also it is so darned cold ya have to drink?
What the doughty moms of MADD always neglect to mention is that the drunk driver who is going to kill you has a BAC that would also kill you ... or me ... or them. Your hardened alcs out on the road, the ones with 15 DUIs and the breathalyzer ignition switch, the orange license plate, etc, are the ones that have to be caught and stopped.
Instead, they are enhancing municipal revenues off people who have had a glass of wine with dinner. BTW, if you are ever stopped and asked by the Mass. Police of any jurisdiction to take a breathalyzer test, merely say, "Why of course officer. After you!"
Didja hear about the Mass legislator who wants to essentially implement MADD’s demand that no one driving be served any alcohol at all. Either come in a group with a designated driver, meaning no lone individual could have a couple anytime, anywhere.
It’ll happen.
The country is on a wicked puritanical streak.
If you look at the bars, they are all old places with regular clientele. It is just the meeting place, I guess. There is something unique about the smell and feel of a Wisconsin tavern though. I think it goes back to the old German settlers in this area. I do know that believe it or not, most "new" bars don't stay in business. You will have the same places change hands over and over again, yet have others that have been in business for decades. I think it is a cultural thing vs a drinking thing. Around here anyways.
Funny thing though, we do not have "night clubs" or dance clubs around here, they are all just bars or taverns. They may only seat 20 people, but it's always the same 20 people. So who knows. When the average temperature for 3+ months is rarely double digits, I suppose the thought of a shot of brandy will keep the old timers warm!
interesting, thanks.
If it weren't so cold, I would move there.
Worse than puritanical...the puritans put into Plymouth because they were low on beer. I’m not kidding, look it up. The same book I first found that in also said that the first words Samoset said when he walked into their colony too greet them were, “Welcome, Englishmen. I am Samoset. Do you have any beer?”
Define “drunk”.
It doesn’t surprise me that you would have that opinion.
One part of the Times article that was really amusing was the part where they pointed out that beer consumption in Wisconsin can’t be a result of German culture, because almost no one speaks German there anymore. I’d be glad to have the moron who wrote that come by and explain why my wife’s family still observes German Christmas traditions (and so do almost all Americans, because the Christmas Tree came from there) even though none of them speak German and neither did their parents or grandparents.
So many reporters are morons, and not just when it comes to raw intelligence, but because they don’t know stuff that I knew from recreational reading when I was a ten year old..
Most of the rest of us think that STONEWALLS needs to be arrested.
If they’re 15, 16, 17, it’s fine if they want to sit down and have a few beers
A little off topic, but that's BS, he'd be shut down in a heartbeat.
Define “drunk”.
Mostly fabricated.
Great post, fellow citizen!
Do you know what I mean by rack disiprin? Just checking.
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