the height of irresponsibility
on friday (april 20), our young girls cottage went to see "disney on ice" at alltel arena in little rock. what the houseparents told me when they returned really disturbed me, although i suppose i shouldnt have been too shocked, all things considered. well, after being absolutely snowed under with work for the past few weeks, i finally had time to call alltel today, only to discover that the person i need to speak with is on vacation until the 10th of may. but in the meantime, here's my problem...
somebody (and i'm assuming it's the person, based on what i was told by the gentleman who answered the phone, who will return my call as her voice mail promised), in their infinite wisdom, thought it would be a good idea to sell beer at this obviously child-oriented event. maybe i've gotten way too used to living in dry counties (almost 5 years in drew county, and prior to that, 4+ years in monroe county, MS), but this is inexcusable. yes, the folks that purchased the alcohol were (hopefully) adults, although i question the wisdom and capacity for common sense of anyone that would pay upwards of $4 for a cup of beer. and yes, no law was broken by the sale of beer at this event... that is assuming that they carded those who looked to be of questionable age, and again assuming no minors consumed or came to be in possession of alcohol sold at the arena.
i would venture to say that upwards of, what... 98% of the adults present were there because they took their kid(s) to see the show (yup, i personally know of a few adults that would have gone just because they love disney). now, i'm reasonably certain that very few, if any, folks went to "disney on ice" for the sole purpose of getting loaded (as i said, 4 bucks for a cup of beer... you can get your buzz on far more cost-effectively by buying a 12-pack at wal-mart, which is beside the point)... but in the 2+ hours that most folks would have been there, you can quaff a few brews. according to most studies, a 170 lb. male could achieve a .08 BAC (the legal limit in arkansas) by drinking 4 beers in an hour on an empty stomach... a 137 lb. female needs 3 in an hour. in a 2 hour span, the male needs 5 beers and the female 4.
i wont have the official information until the concession manager returns my call, but the houseparent told me that the cups appeared to be as large as a "dad's size" drink from dad's place... which would be 24 oz... so 2 of these in an hour would do it for the average male. but there's more to this than .08 BAC. according to the national highway traffic safety administration, "the risk of being in a crash rises at each BAC level" leading up to .08 BAC.
so my question is this: who is responsible for allowing alcohol to be sold at an event where the vast majority of those present are children... children who are relying on potentially impaired adults to get them safely home? alltel arena is owned and operated by the Multi-Purpose Civic Center Facilities Board, a joint entity of pulaski county and (presumably) the city of north little rock. so a government entity is allowing the sale and consumption of alcohol where children are present and either directly or indirectly affected.
i've considered different arguments and scenarios here... that any parent could get drunk at home and load the kids up in the car; that some drunk who just left his favorite bar could barrel down the street and strike a kid on her bike... blah, blah, blah. a county/municipal agency has in place a policy that puts children and adults at risk, and THAT is the height of irresponsibility!
(when ms. debbie johnson, concessions manager for alltel arena comes back from vacation and returns my phone call, i'll post a follow up.)
somebody (and i'm assuming it's the person, based on what i was told by the gentleman who answered the phone, who will return my call as her voice mail promised), in their infinite wisdom, thought it would be a good idea to sell beer at this obviously child-oriented event. maybe i've gotten way too used to living in dry counties (almost 5 years in drew county, and prior to that, 4+ years in monroe county, MS), but this is inexcusable. yes, the folks that purchased the alcohol were (hopefully) adults, although i question the wisdom and capacity for common sense of anyone that would pay upwards of $4 for a cup of beer. and yes, no law was broken by the sale of beer at this event... that is assuming that they carded those who looked to be of questionable age, and again assuming no minors consumed or came to be in possession of alcohol sold at the arena.
i would venture to say that upwards of, what... 98% of the adults present were there because they took their kid(s) to see the show (yup, i personally know of a few adults that would have gone just because they love disney). now, i'm reasonably certain that very few, if any, folks went to "disney on ice" for the sole purpose of getting loaded (as i said, 4 bucks for a cup of beer... you can get your buzz on far more cost-effectively by buying a 12-pack at wal-mart, which is beside the point)... but in the 2+ hours that most folks would have been there, you can quaff a few brews. according to most studies, a 170 lb. male could achieve a .08 BAC (the legal limit in arkansas) by drinking 4 beers in an hour on an empty stomach... a 137 lb. female needs 3 in an hour. in a 2 hour span, the male needs 5 beers and the female 4.
i wont have the official information until the concession manager returns my call, but the houseparent told me that the cups appeared to be as large as a "dad's size" drink from dad's place... which would be 24 oz... so 2 of these in an hour would do it for the average male. but there's more to this than .08 BAC. according to the national highway traffic safety administration, "the risk of being in a crash rises at each BAC level" leading up to .08 BAC.
so my question is this: who is responsible for allowing alcohol to be sold at an event where the vast majority of those present are children... children who are relying on potentially impaired adults to get them safely home? alltel arena is owned and operated by the Multi-Purpose Civic Center Facilities Board, a joint entity of pulaski county and (presumably) the city of north little rock. so a government entity is allowing the sale and consumption of alcohol where children are present and either directly or indirectly affected.
i've considered different arguments and scenarios here... that any parent could get drunk at home and load the kids up in the car; that some drunk who just left his favorite bar could barrel down the street and strike a kid on her bike... blah, blah, blah. a county/municipal agency has in place a policy that puts children and adults at risk, and THAT is the height of irresponsibility!
(when ms. debbie johnson, concessions manager for alltel arena comes back from vacation and returns my phone call, i'll post a follow up.)
posted by dean at 2:12 PM
6 Comments:
This is a prime example of what awaits us at the crossroads of 'it's not my fault, I'm just doing my job' and an overwhelming lack of parenting.
Relax. If it means the dad will take his dad to a disney on ice show because he gets to have a beer while he's there, I say go for it. At least he's taking his kids to something they enjoy and they're spending time together. One big beer isn't going to kill the family. If he's going out to get sloshed it's not going to be at the alltel arena at an ice show.
Obviously, lizzyfla must have had a couple of brews, because nowhere in the post does it mention a 'dad taking his dad to Disney on Ice'.
And obviously lizzyfla doesn't object to alcolol, even if it (and it always does) affect innocent people.
Well Dean, you've heard me weigh in on alcohol-related topics before, so this should come as no surprise: I think the strength of your reaction proves that you probably HAVE, as you stated, lived in a dry county for too long.
It is every adult individual's choice to purchase a beer at an arena, and that choice does not automatically equate to some of the negative euphemisms you've used "quaff a few" "getting loaded" "get your buzz on," etc. As you have so extraneously pointed out, if it would take TWO $4 beers to become impaired (depending on body mass, of course), then I see no reason why an adult might not responsibly purchase one with a pretzel to help get through the headache of two unstoppable hours of blaring Disney music.
My one and only point is that participating in the legal activity of purchasing a drink at the Alltel is not automatically irresponsible or dangerous, and the basis of freedom in this country has always been to leave such things up to personal responsibility, not to legislate them as if WE feel we can live others' lives for them.
To me, there's not much difference between making a disgruntled call to the Alltel and making a disgruntled call to a school district asking to ban a book from the library. Both extreme actions do little more than close people's ears to your opinions because both actions deny a belief in personal responsibility at the same time they deny the value of freedom.
i feel like i've been mis-characterized on a number of items in the comments here.
i havent advocated legislation anywhere in my post. and i didnt address the irresponsibility of any of the adults in attendance at disney on ice, although i think it highly irresponsible if any parent did indeed consume enough alcohol to become impaired. also, my call wasnt disgruntled by any means. additionally, i thought i made it pretty clear that i believe that few if any went to disney on ice for the purpose of getting intoxicated, and if they did, it would have been a silly thing to do because they could do it a lot cheaper by going to the store and buying it.
here's MY point... somebody had the ability - and RESPONSIBILITY - to keep the beer taps closed at this CHILDREN'S event. i dont know if disney had the option to request (or demand) it, or if the powers that be at alltel arena could have made the decision. that was the reason for my (very cordial) phone call to alltel the other day... to find out who was responsible for making the decision to sell beer. i do know from the Christian concerts that i've attended there, that no alcohol was served at the concessions. i have a pretty good suspicion that the Christian artists are the ones who said "no alcohol," and if that's true, then the disney folks could certainly have done the same. if not, then i contend that since you have a government entity which owns and operates the arena, they should have had the public's best interests in mind and made that decision themselves.
we dont allow children in bars... why bring the bar to the children? i think a little due diligence on SOMEBODY'S part would have been in order considering the number of children that were present.
i'm not sure why it was considered irrelevant to point out the impairing effects of alcohol on the adults responsible for driving these children. it is, in fact, the whole reason for the post. a certain amount of alcohol has a detrimental effect on the reactions and reflexes of the person consuming the alcohol. if that person wishes to exercise his or her freedom to consume alcohol and then get behind the wheel, he or she should exercise that freedom when their kids arent strapped into the back seat of the car, and when somebody else's kids arent crossing the street in front of them.
What's next, having the hooters girls working as ticket agents at a veggie tales concert?
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