Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, January 5, 1993 TAG: 9301050259
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
NEW RULES ON KEGS APPLAUDED
A new beer keg registration rule that is to take effect this month will give Virginia authorities a buck-stops-here weapon to fight underage drinking."I'm excited about it," said Lillian DeVenny, head of Virginians Opposing Drunk Driving. "It certainly should put a big dent in these notorious keg parties. It will cause an adult to think more than once when they go buy alcohol to provide to underage drinkers."
Under the new rule scheduled to take effect Jan. 13, if police break up a party with underage drinkers, they can track the keg back to the purchaser and prosecute.
Someone who allows an underage person to drink beer from a keg could be charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor, a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine, said William Gee, a spokesman for the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Department.
Advocates of the keg rule acknowledge that youngsters who want to drink still can turn to six-packs. But kegs encourage alcohol abuse more than individual cans, they say.
With keg registration, the purchaser must provide a picture identification, a name and address and the date and location where the keg will be tapped.
In addition, buyers must sign a statement that they are over 21, that they will not allow anyone under 21 to drink from the keg and that they will not remove the registration seal from the keg.
Keg registration has been a pet project of Del. M. Kirkland Cox, R-Colonial Heights, a schoolteacher.
"Any student who has attended a keg party knows the increased potential for abuse," Cox said. "The price is cheap and the beer is almost unlimited. The number of downright sloppy drunks is much greater. The very volume of beer present lends itself to heavier drinking."
Law enforcement officers say the problem is not limited to college campuses. Parents will sometimes buy kegs for teen-agers for special occasions, they say.
In Virginia Beach, a special squad trained to respond to teen drinking parties broke up 10 such gatherings over the holidays.
The keg rule was passed by the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Board on Oct. 28 after a registration bill failed in the General Assembly. The rule will take effect after a review by Gov. Douglas Wilder.
Gee said the rule will take effect next week "unless there is some exception made to it" by the governor.