There were at least 200 students at the public forum on the Underage Drinking Task Force, also known as the Party Patrol, on Sept. 14. The panel consisted of university, city and county law enforcement officials and administrators of a federal grant who are committed to improving safety for all Grant County residents.

The debate that evening was not what the drinking age should be, although you would not know that from some of the student comments. You may think you are a responsible adult and that you are drinking responsibly. A lapse in that thinking is overlooking that the legal drinking age is 21. So if you are under 21, you are breaking a law. The issue is not about whether you agree with the law.

Our state legislature is where a law gets challenged, not with those hired to enforce laws.

The law enforcement officials were generous with their advice: don’t call attention to yourself and you will probably not be noticed.  The opposite will also hold true:  the more attention seeking behavior in which you engage, the more attention you will get from law enforcement.  Did the person who threw a beer can at a police vehicle really think he was keeping a low profile?

Law enforcement officials also shared another helpful tip:  if you do get noticed, be cooperative and you might very well walk away with a warning rather than a citation.

Keep a low profile and have a cooperative spirit. You should also get help for someone who has had too much. Please don’t leave them to die in their own vomit.  Preventing injury and death is on all of us.

If you have ideas how to spend available funds to keep UW-Platteville students more safe visit www.safegrantcounty.org.

Julia Clark
Accounting major