Comments about ‘Barriers are sought to hide booze from minors’

It is no wonder that people as stupid as Waddoups, Valentine, and Stephenson have kids that are so impressionable that seeing a drink made will CAUSE them to start drinking. If you are a moron, I guess your kids will be as well.

You've heard the saying "one step forward and two steps back"? Well, in Utah, it's "NO steps forward and two steps back."

The legislature needs to act quickly to counteract all that positive image-building that the Utes football team has accomplished in the last few months. Can't have the rest of the country thinking that Utah has lost its nutty edge.

That being said, I would prefer them passing measures like this, that are merely symbolic and annoying, rather than ones that are substantive and annoying.

If they are so scared for their kids dont take them to these kind of places. Some places it is the profit margin if they sell drinks, and the state makes lots of money of drinks. So Utah could have chains leave the state because of bad times. And the state would lose more tax base. Who would win in this outcome. No one. Dont put your principles in front of the common good. I drink when I go out to eat but it is only one drink to go with my food. You will not keep kids from drinking by hiding drinking the right way. They will do it one way or another if they are going to try a drink. Thats the way people have been since the beginning of time.

What a complete joke.

When are you elected officials going to get to work on real issues and not the pandering issues like those who choose to Drink. Tax them and move on already. You are certainly not helping the problem. Are you reading any research that shows any correlation between children (teenagers) drinking and them watching a drink get poured in a restuarant. Honestly the least you could do is go about your work with some integrity (i.e facts).

Now I know why they got rid of Valentine.... by comparison it seems he is WAY too liberal....

I bet we could get a law passed requiring a 15 foot barbed wire fence around stores like the blue botique. C'Mon Senate, don't sell yourselves short!

Having grown up in Utah, I understand the solid hysteria. Let's put it into perspective.

I now live in a state where the sports bar downtown is visited by families, singles, doubles, triples, whatever. Kids come in with mom, dad, uncle, aunt, grandpa, etc., and beer is served with the meals.

No one, not the minister esp. who was with me 3 days ago in the sports bar, gives a ripping root about it. And thus it passes. No one turns into an alcoholic, no one is influenced (except by the multiple tvs and the football games, etc.). It is true that on the other side of the bar, etc., there is a pool table (and that rhymes with "trouble...") and some other stuff, and seats for couples up high on wooden chairs...

well, anyway, it sure is neat to have a good, decent place to eat, go out with neighbors and their kids, and laugh, and sing, and cheer the Packers, the Vikings, the Utes, the... some of the waitresses are some of my students at the local university. You see the mayor, the rev., the families, the community.

Utah is still a cave. I grieve for you.

I didn't know it was election time again.

Listen: prosecutors go after the drug rings within 90 days of an election. Apparently in Utah you go after people who only wish to drink and eat in public... 2 years before the next election. Politicians in Utah must be hard up for looking good on the issues.

Having been educated in Utah, K-12, I like the idea that the authorities try to look authoritative and then seek re-election. Restores my faith in bs. But if you want to actually DO something good, try supporting K-12 education to the max!!!

I avoid certain restraunts because of the strong hustle the servers put on booze. I want a nice Itallian dinner with out the server assuming I want wine and carting it to the table. Huntsman is wrong on this issue Utah needs to tighten up. There are plenty of places people can go have their drinks. I like sex but would consider it poor taste to request a cot to put next to the table.

When these same type of zealots force women into hiding completely we call them terrorists. The more I read about the fundamentalists ruining the state I see there is not much difference to the Taliban and the Utah Republican party.

I moved to Idaho from SLC. The part of the state I live in is very close to Utah in the demographics. When it comes to alcohol, here you can buy wine in grocery stores and a mixed drink in a restaurant. The difference I,ve noticed is that we seem to have fewer problems with our youth and alcohol than Utah has. Also, I have not noticed any kids dead in the aisles at Albertsons because of wine in the store. Utah is a great state, but it is nice to be treated as an adult.

Anonymous: If I were you I wouldn't give my name either! If you can't tell the difference between the Taliban and Utah Republicans, maybe you should do a little more research and a little less writing. I think Governor Huntsman is wrong to want to change Utah alcohol laws. I resent being in a restaurant knowing that those people who are merrily sipping their beer and wine are then going to get into their vehicles and drive home (or where ever). I resent their entertainment putting my family and friends in danger. If that makes me a member of the Taliban then sign me up! But it doesn't so don't sign me up. Public safety is more important than someone's Miller Lite and I would think the governor had enough sense to see this but apparently not.

This is a very funny story. There;'s nothing like a good Utah liquor law story to make friends goggle.

Anonymous: My apologies for my angry reply. I don't agree with you but being mean spirited has no place anywhere. We can agree to disagree. Please accept my apology. Happy 2009!

Excellent strategy! Fetishize alcohol. Hide it. Make it sexy and forbidden. This will surely put an end to curious kids.

I bet covering up teenage girls' ankles will make them less attractive to teenage boys too. Don't want underage necking? Just build a wall between them and try to convince them there's no difference between boys and girls.

Give me a break Waddoups!

Mike Wadduoups has lost his marbles. He used to have some sanity in his elected position but I think he has run our of productive ideas and is now on a personal crusade of some sort. His religion is coming thru and its interfering with his judgement to represent all of his constituents. The state drinking laws are still archaic and blue. Does he really think that hiding the booze is going to make a difference? Children have their own resources to do what ever they please, whether it drinking, smoking, or any vice he considers offensive. Even in his own home his children are probably boozing it up when he is not a home. Using children as a reason for hiding what he considers a vice does more harm to children. He should talk to his children instead of hiding everything from them, its called living in a real world. I tried to vote him and his insanity out this past election but he has to many sheep followers. Idiots like this staying in office year after year is why we in Utah have such rediculous legislation being passed even against the wishes of the people.

No apology needed Christy. People like you drove many of my friends and some family away from the church. But not me. I am used to it by now. It is sad that most don't usually realize how evil their actions are or how they mirror Satan's plan. You know Satan? He was that guy who wanted that righteous thing to get everyone back to the CK. Only his plan was to hide the booze and take away free agency much like our great Republican party.

I don't drink. Don't plan to, but I have many non-member friends who do. The ones that drink too much are the ones who it was forbidden to drink.

I'm somewhat curious as to why certain articles (this one included) get bumped up to the top of the list of headlines on the D-News website, going from one day's headlines to the next. I used to be able to assume that the stories were sorted in descending order of date and time, but now? Interestingly, both stories that I have noticed being "bumped" involved alcohol, but there could have been others.

I am a single father of a 13 year old, with a 2 tap fridge in the kitchen. I am also a brewer. My son has NO interest in the beer because it is not a mystery. A few years ago he asked what it tasted like and I let him have a taste of the Irish stout I had on tap. He spit it in the sink and said it was nasty. I do occasionally brew a batch of root beer and put it on one of the taps for him, which he really enjoys. Hiding booze and making it a big mystery, merely entices kids. Here in Nevada (ex-pat Utahn) we can buy all liquors in the grocery store. I see much less alcohol abuse by kids here than I did in Utah. Note that Nevada also has very strict laws concerning alcohol, but they focus on being under the influence or minor in possesion. 3rd DUIs' in Nevada will get you 1-3 years in prison for felony DUI. Grow up Utah.

Having just moved to this state, I find many of the values that many of you are embarrassed by to be a refreshing change from the wholesale abandonment of parental responsiblities I've experienced in a much more liberal area. This is one of those areas where a little inconvenience for adults could go miles for helping kids.

Sure, determined rebellion is going to happen, but why encourage it by abandoning legal restrictions, and publicly endorsing the consumption of alcohol? More public alcohol consuption for what? For money? That's nuts! The cost of drinking is far grater than the price of a drink. I applaud any political opposition to the political endorsement of public drinking. Just because "everybody's doing it" is not justification for Utah to do it. --Ray

PS> Fwiw, Utah is not the only state that restricts alcohol. Heck, in some parts of the country they even have "Dry Counties" where prohibition is still legally required. So stop being ashamed of something that works, Utah. This is one of the matters that makes this state work.