La Crosse city leaders are discussing ending late-night drink specials at local bars in an effort to prevent additional drownings in the Mississippi River.
City leaders proposed the ban on late-night drink specials this week because a total of eight college-aged men have drowned in the Mississippi River in the last nine years — each had been drinking before his death. The incidents have left city leaders looking for a reasonable way to prevent similar events from happening again.
With the proposed late-night drink specials ban, leaders hope to include a provision that would stop the sale of shots past 10:30 p.m. Beer could still be served after that time but at regular prices. No official proposition has been made at this time.
Tuesday, the city's attorney told members of the Alcohol Oversight Committee that the common council could legally pass an ordinance banning the late-night specials.
The committee is now planning a meeting with the local Tavern League to discuss plans for the ban so that a proposal can be introduced to the council in January.
Mary Torstveit, Alcohol Education Coordinator at UW-La Crosse said stopping late-night specials is just one of the things the city needs to do to prevent the drownings altogether.
"Providing alcohol late at night for cheaper prices doesn't seem to make sense if the city's goal is to try to reduce drinking," Torstveit said. "No one strategy by itself is going to prevent drownings, but banning late-night specials is a good place to start."
Torstveit added she thinks the city needs to increase enforcement of alcohol policies and suggested La Crosse residents take charge of the issue as a community.
After an autopsy officially revealed that UW-L student Luke Homan, who drowned in October, had been drinking the night he died, La Crosse Mayor Mark Johnsrud immediately called for a stronger stance within the community about the dangers of alcohol.
Last month, Johnsrud proposed a $60,000 budget for the city to install motion-censored lights around the river area, citing safety along the river as the utmost concern. Members of the La Crosse Alcohol Task Force have also suggested a railing along the river and ladders inside the river that are well lit so that if someone were to fall in again, he or she could easily see an escape route.
Joe Baker, member of La Crosse's Alcohol Task Force and representative of the UW-L Athletic Department, approves of a late-night drinking specials ban and compared it to similar policies used at sporting events.
"I believe just like at professional baseball [games], they stop selling beer late in the game so that people are not drinking just prior to leaving the facility and getting into their cars to drive home," Baker said. "They stop selling long before people leave the game."
Homan, a Brookfield native who played for the UW-L basketball team, was the most recent person to drown in the Mississippi River.
However, Homan's death was not the only alcohol-related incident this year involving the Mississippi River. In January, UW-Madison student Cullen Fortney fell into the river but survived by pulling himself to safety.
