www.IowaABD.com

Lynn M. Walding, Administrator

 

 

1.      Bar Staff Signing up for Training

2.   PBR: Beer of Choice for Hipsters

3.   New Survey Shows Parents Troubled by Underage Drinking

4.   Distilled Spirits Council Responds to CAMY Survey on Underage Drinking

5.   City Needs to Revisit Alcohol Rules

 

1.  Bar Staff Signing up for Training

By Vanessa Miller - Iowa City Press-Citizen

July 19, 2003

 

DETAILS   ! Training for Intervention Procedures is the nation’s leading server training program.  Participants are trained by certified instructors to identify signs of intoxicated patrons and methods to intervene effectively, preventing alcohol-related problems.

Officials expect 600 to register

 

IOWA CITY - Class is beginning earlier than usual this year. On Aug. 4, many of Iowa City's bar employees will begin attending an alcohol training course referred to as Training for Intervention Procedures, or TIPS.   "All our staff will be in TIPS training," said Brian Flynn, 28, general manager of Joe's Place, 115 Iowa Ave. "I think its something that needs to be done so bar owners and employees can say they are trained.  There are a lot of my employees that have to learn a lot more about checking identifications and things like that."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As of Friday, about 180 people had signed up for Iowa City's program. Lynn Walding, administrator for the Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division, said he expects about 600 by the time classes begin.

 

"I'm glad to see the involvement, you never know how it's going to be until people start signing up," Walding said. "I think the local law enforcement has generated a lot of the retail involvement."

 

There will be two four-hour classes every day for two weeks beginning Aug. 4, Walding said. All registered employees will be required to attend one of the sessions, each of which can hold about 20 people.

 

"If all the classes fill up, we will expand," Walding said. "And the training is free. We don't charge the licensees anything."

 

The two-year trial incentive program promoting alcohol training has the approval of many bar owners, city officials, law enforcement and members of the Stepping Up project, a University of Iowa-led coalition against binge drinking.

 

It comes in response to a City Council push to curb alcohol abuse.

 

At their May 6 meeting, councilors passed an alcohol ordinance banning those under age 19 from entering bars after 10 p.m. The law takes effect Aug. 1.

 

Councilors initially considered banning everyone under 21 and approved first consideration of that proposed law April 8. Bar owners and UI students later persuaded a council majority to lower the age to 19.

 

As part of the bar owners' proposal, they suggested enforcing color-coded wristbands, additional bar monitors and TIPS training.

 

While some bar owners are determined to implement the additional enforcement measures, the Alcoholic Beverages Division is providing an extra incentive to increase participation in the training program.

 

An establishment will receive one free exemption from being penalized for an alcohol violation if the employee guilty of the infraction has been TIPS trained.

"We'll give them one get out of jail free card," Walding said.

 

As part of the TIPS program, Brad Krevor, senior research associate at the Schneider Institute for Health Policy at the Heller School at Brandeis University in Boston, will do an evaluation of employee reaction to TIPS and its effects in the community.

 

"By a pre- and post-test questionnaire, we'll look at to what degree the program is utilized by establishments and employees," said Krevor, who will come to Iowa City around Aug. 4. "This is to better understand the effectiveness of the training program and identify the problems that occur in an establishment. Our evaluation is looking at the attitude changes in employees."

 

Krevor said the evaluation will be complete around February 2004.

 

While Iowa City's TIPS program, funded with a $15,000 grant from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, only is available to bar employees this year, Walding said state officials have considered future expansion for university students.

 

A new group of higher education officials focused on curbing binge drinking decided last week to pursue a TIPS program for incoming freshmen at Iowa universities in the 2005 school year.

 

"We are looking for federal funding to pay for the program," Walding said. "We will develop it all year so we can roll it out next summer."

 

Mayor Ernie Lehman said he is pleased with the local and state enthusiasm to curb hazardous drinking.

 

"It's wonderful, I heard no one signed up," he said of the TIPS program. "I just think it's tremendous."

 

 

 

2. PBR: Beer of Choice for Hipsters

By Phil Luciano – PJStar.com

July 15, 2003

	Pabst Blue Ribbon remains reviled by a chunk of Peoria that can't forgive the 1982 shutting of the Heights brewery.   PBR hasn't fared much better elsewhere. Its Milwaukee brewery closed two years ago, and the company moved to San Antonio, Texas. It's now a contract beer made by Miller. Sales in 2001 fell to less than a million barrels, 90 percent less than its heyday in 1975.
				Emmanuel Lozano / Arizona Republic
		Patrons drink Pabst Blue Ribbon beer at The Rogue in Scottsdale

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good riddance? Hardly.

Nationally, in a surge that defies conventional marketing wisdom, Pabst is surging in sales - and in a market that's flatter than a warm Blatz. Moreover, publications across the country have gushed over Pabst's rebound, even The New York Times Magazine.

"It's the kids," says Michael Sullivan, longtime Peoria tavern entrepreneur and current proprietor of Sullivan's pub. "They like the fact that it's not shoved down their throats."

Young adults are overwhelmed and wearied by our relentless advertising culture. Breweries spend $1 billion a year on marketing.

That's how Pabst made its move. Actually, it made its move by not moving at all.

Young adults in the Northwest, home to pricey micro-brews, were drawn by Pabst's cost, often a buck a can in bars. Then, Pabst's dearth of ads (no TV campaign in 20 years) endeared it to new fans. The Times frames the phenomenon as a socio-political movement: Buying a can of Pabst is a poke in the eye to mass-market beers.

Snowboarders, indie filmmakers and other hipsters on the West Coast have been joined elsewhere by cultural brethren. Pabst sales got a push from press rumblings in the Washington Post and other big publications, plus a powerful thumbs-up by "The Hipster Handbook," a Bible of the young and trendy.

Sales in 2002 rose 5.3 percent. Through April of this year, supermarket sales soared 9.4 percent. Chicago sales are up a whopping 134 percent.

That's not to say Pabst Brewing Co. is ready to take on the big boys. Its brands, mostly has-beens like Schlitz, Falstaff and Olympia, account for just 4.2 percent of the domestic beer market; its heavy hitter, Old Milwaukee, rates 1 percent. Industry giant Anheuser-Busch commands 48 percent.

In the Tri-County Area, Pabst is handled by RJ Distributing of Peoria, which has seen PBR sales vault 10 percent this year. Mind you, the beer industry has been flat for 18 months.

In Greater Peoria, I can think of three pubs with Pabst on draft: Katie McButt's on the East Bluff, Mike's in West Peoria and Gilles' in Kickapoo. Still, taverns and package-liquor stores have been selling plenty of cans and bottles, says Rob Jockisch, general sales manager for RJ Distributing.

He doesn't think local Pabst fans are making a social statement. Rather, they're indulging in nostalgia - the "retro-chic" movement that spawned renewed interest in cocktail music and Levi's jeans.

"You drink your dad's beer, what was in his refrigerator," Jockisch says.

At Sullivan's, where you can buy lunch cheaper than many of the import beers and micro-brews, PBR recently appeared in the cooler, the lone sub-premium beer in the joint. Bottles go for $2, and Sullivan's, with a high college-age traffic at night, had a hard time keeping enough in stock.

Amazing. Next time you drive by the old Pabst building in the Heights and see the blue-ribbon logo, just think what "retro-chic" could've meant in 1982.

 

3. New Survey Shows Parents Troubled by Underage Drinking and Alcohol Companies' Advertising Practices

US Newswire.com

July 14, 2003

 

WASHINGTON - Two-thirds of parents say that seeing and hearing alcohol ads make teens more likely to drink alcohol, and almost three-quarters of parents say that alcohol companies are not doing enough to limit the amount of alcohol advertising that teens see, according to a survey conducted by Peter D. Hart Research Associates and American Viewpoint for the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth at Georgetown University.

 

"Parents get it that alcohol companies' ads are not helping them teach their children about the risks of alcohol use," said Jim O'Hara, executive director of the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth at Georgetown University. "Parents want accountability and responsibility from the beer and liquor companies."

 

Key findings from the survey include:

n       Parents perceive alcohol ads as having a serious effect on teen drinking habits, and they see alcohol companies as falling far short in dealing responsibly with the impact of their advertising on young people. Fully two-thirds (66 percent) of parents say that seeing and hearing alcohol ads makes teens more likely to drink alcohol than they otherwise would be. Minority parents are substantially more likely than are parents overall to think alcohol ads make teens more likely to drink, with 76 percent of African-American parents and 73 percent of Hispanic parents agreeing that this is the case. Almost three-quarters of parents fault alcohol companies for the amount of ads that teens see and hear.

 

n       Teens engaging in risky behavior while under the influence of alcohol ranks at the top of a list of concerns that parents have about teenagers' behavior. Eighty-two percent (82 percent) of parents say that teens' alcohol-related risky behavior is a problem in society today, including 56 percent who say that it is a big problem.

 

n       A wide gap exists between parents' perceptions of their teens' drinking habits and those habits reported by teens themselves. The largest gap is between 15-to 16-year olds and their parents. Only 31 percent of parents of teens in this group say that their teen probably or definitely has consumed an alcoholic beverage in the last year, as compared with 60 percent of teens in this age group who report having done this.

 

n       Parents reject the argument that alcohol companies' advertising practices are legitimate as they are only trying to make money like any other business. Parents overwhelmingly (81 percent) believe that, due to the potentially harmful effects of its products, the alcohol industry has a special responsibility to avoid exposing young people to messages encouraging alcohol consumption.

 

n       Overall, parents find alcohol companies' specific advertising practices to be very troubling. Parents express strong disapproval for a variety of specific advertising practices commonly used by alcohol companies. For example, 65 percent of parents find it very troubling when they learn that alcohol companies produce marketing Web sites that include video games and other features that appeal to youth under the legal drinking age. And, 63 percent of parents were very troubled to learn that beer companies place their advertisements on television in such a way that young people ages 12 to 20 see two beer advertisements on television for every three seen by an adult.

 

"The survey results are striking because they show a nearly universal view among parents that alcohol companies should be doing more to reduce teens' exposure," said Geoffrey Garin of Peter D. Hart Research Associates. "This belief is held by large majorities of every demographic subgroup, including two-thirds or more of Republicans, Independents, and Democrats," said Gary Ferguson of American Viewpoint.

 

More information on the Center and a full text of this survey can be found at http://www.camy.org.

 

Background on the survey:

From June 2 to 8, 2003, Peter D. Hart Research Associates and American Viewpoint conducted a survey on behalf of the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth at Georgetown University among a random national sample of 801 parents of 12- to 17-year-olds, including oversamples of 100 African-American parents and 100 Hispanic parents. The survey carries a margin of error of plus 3.5 percent. Data on teen drinking behavior is from the Monitoring the Future Survey, University of Michigan, 2002.

 

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About the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth:

The Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth at Georgetown University monitors the marketing practices of the alcohol industry to focus attention and action on industry practices that jeopardize the health and safety of America's youth. The Center is supported by grants from The Pew Charitable Trusts and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

 

Contact:  Nicole King of the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth, 202-687-0884

 

 

4. Distilled Spirits Council Responds to CAMY Survey on Underage Drinking

U. S. Newswire

July 14, 2003

WASHINGTON - In response to the latest survey on underage drinking by the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY), Distilled Spirits Council President Peter Cressy stated, "The distilled spirits industry is and has been a leader in working with communities to stop illegal drinking by those under the legal purchase age."

Cressy, a former university chancellor stressed that the distilled spirits industry does not want underage drinkers as customers. He pointed to the efforts of The Century Council (http://www.centurycouncil.org), the distilled spirits industry's not-for-profit organization which has spent more than $130 million over the last 12 years on programs to reduce illegal, underage drinking including programs specifically aimed at encouraging parents to talk with their children about alcohol.

"Parents need to know that study after study shows they have the biggest influence over a youth's decision regarding drinking," said Cressy. "Parents need to talk early and often with their children about alcohol."

Cressy stated that the research on advertising and alcohol consumption is very clear: advertising does not cause an adolescent to drink. Numerous studies re-affirm parents and peers as the leading influencers over youths' decision to drink. In fact, the numbers are stark. According to the 2002 Roper Youth Report, 71 percent identified parents as influences over their decision to drink versus five percent who identified advertisements.

He said the distillers are committed to responsible advertising and are proud of their longstanding track record of effective self-regulation. Since 1934, the distillers have voluntarily abided by a Code of Good Practice to ensure that spirits advertising is responsible and directed to adults.

Contact: Lisa Hawkins of the Distilled Spirits Council, 202-682-8840

 

5. City Needs to Revisit Alcohol Rules

By Tribune Editorial Board – The Tribune

July 24, 2003

 

The Ames City Council split this week on a request to serve beer for a short time in Bandshell Park.

 

AMES - The tie-breaker was cast by Mayor Ted Tedesco in favor of allowing the Ames Jaycees to cordon off a part of the park during its "Ames on the Halfshell" fund-raiser next month and sell beer.  We'll make a toast to that call. It was the right thing to do. Plenty of communities we've visited recently - Burlington, Des Moines, Davenport, Ottumwa - all permit regular gatherings in downtown parks where beer is served. These are not guzzling contests. They're social mixers after work, with food, music, families, and yes, adult beverages, responsibly consumed. But Judie Hoffman, who voted with Riad Mahayni against allowing the permit, makes a good point. Among her arguments against relaxing the rules is that a policy discussion really ought to have taken place first. The city's code says alcohol can't be consumed in any public place except for the larger parks, which are Brookside, Emma McCarthy Lee, Inis Grove, North and South River Valley and Moore Memorial. In those places, you can drink wine or beer if it comes in a bottle or single-serving can. No cartons or kegs. Hoffman notes that in the smaller "neighborhood" parks - which include Bandshell Park - no alcohol is allowed. She asks, is this not a good idea? Then, too, the council meeting this week was as bare-bones as they come. Only three members were physically present - Hoffman, Mahayni and Steve Goodhue. Councilmember Russ Cross participated by phone, to make a quorum. So the physical limitations probably crimped any real effort at discussion even more.  While the outcome doesn't bother us, Hoffman is right about the process.        Now, it may be after the fact, but her suggestion ought to be considered. The council should revisit its alcohol policy, particularly as it applies to Bandshell Park. Ames' downtown business district is constantly working to find ways to bring people down. There's also a burgeoning group of young professionals in town who are working hard to have a little fun. Bandshell Park is the closest thing Ames has to a downtown park. This isn't to overemphasize the importance of alcohol as a social lubricant. But it is true that it can be part of what causes people to gather. And it can cause groups like the Jaycees to go somewhere else if they can't be accommodated. Of course, also part of the discussion should be the neighbors of the park, as well. How do they feel about temporary use of the park by organizations that wish to include beer or wine? It's a good discussion to have.  A related discussion might include the policy on alcohol in sidewalk cafes. It's just outright prohibited now on any tables and chairs set up on public sidewalks. If a business includes an open seating area on property it owns, such as the deck at Cazador, that's OK. But any downtown businesses are effectively landlocked by the sidewalk.   All in all, the city can stand to lighten up a bit. Have some fun. Wouldn't it be great to see the downtown buzzing with families pushing strollers, parents of college students visiting, young people on dates, maybe some music, outdoor cafes that serve, yes, beer or wine - all after 8 p.m.? Plenty of examples abound in communities near and far. They're not slipping into moral decay or hooliganism. They're being adults. The council should revisit the rules. Are they too tight?