September 14, 2010
by Adam Smeltz for StateCollege.com

Leaders spanning the public and private sectors converged Monday in State College to endorse tougher penalties for underage-drinking and public-drunkenness offenses in Pennsylvania.

A two-hour hearing by the state Senate Majority Policy Committee convened inside the borough municipal building, drawing testimony from representatives of three college towns — including State College; from two Penn State student representatives; and from two bar-and-restaurant operators.

Nearly all of those testifying gave unqualified endorsements of three bills introduced last week by state Sen. Jake Corman, R-Bellefonte. One bill would raise the maximum fines for summary underage-drinking and public-drunkenness offenses to $1,000, up from the current maximum of $300. The current maximum was set in 1972 and no longer serves as an effective deterrent or covers law-enforcement expenses, officials testified. (more…)

By Lauren Boyer
September 14, 2010

STATE COLLEGE — One by one, officials unbottled pent-up frustration surrounding penalties they say aren’t strong enough to deter the increasing population of excessive drinkers committing alcohol-related crimes in college towns.

At a two-hour hearing Monday, State College officials joined representatives from Indiana and West Chester at the municipal building, echoing similar concerns before the state Senate Majority Policy Committee about the municipal financial burden of alcohol violations.

“There doesn’t seem to be any real solutions, per se,” said committee member Sen. Mike Folmer, R-Lebanon. “When you’re dealing with people’s behaviors and actions, it’s difficult to legislate those aspects of their internal being.” (more…)

By Katrina Wehr
Collegian Staff Writer

State College Borough Council President Ron Filipelli said he doesn’t leave his home after 10 p.m. and keeps his car inside to prevent damage from drunken passersby.

“It’s like living in two different neighborhoods,” said Filipelli, a longtime resident of the Highlands neighborhood. “One during the day, and a completely different one at night.”

And in an effort to deter students from engaging in the excessive behavior that can result from alcohol abuse, Filipelli — along with state senators, borough officials and community members — met Monday afternoon to discuss legislation that would raise fines for alcohol-related offenses. The legislation aims to raise the maximum fine for alcohol-related summary offenses to $1,000. (more…)

Sara Ganim
August 30, 2010
STATE COLLEGE — Two weekends into the fall semester, State College police say they are seeing a higher than normal number of alcohol-related calls downtown.

“This is a non-football weekend, not a special event,” said State College police Lt. Chris Fishel. “And we still had 88 people cited for various offenses.”

It comes as university officials are imposing harsher penalties for excessive drinking.

Vice President for Student Affairs Damon Sims said Monday that this year for the first time, any student cited for underage drinking will now have to go through the university’s judicial affairs process, along with paying the criminal fine. (more…)

By ABBY GOODNOUGH and KATIE ZEZIMA
Published: July 24, 2010

The accident that killed Kathryn Underdown had all the markings of a drunken-driving case. The car that hit her as she rode her bicycle one May evening in Miller Place, N.Y., did not stop, the police said, until it crashed into another vehicle farther down the road.

The driver could not keep her eyes open during an interview with investigators, according to the complaint against her, and her speech was slow and slurred. But the driver told the police that she had not been drinking; instead, the complaint said, she had taken several prescription medications, including a sedative and a muscle relaxant.
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By Erik Lacitis
The Seattle Times | Posted: Sunday, September 20, 2009 12:00 am

The crew of the Victoria Clipper, the ferry that makes round trips between Seattle and that city on Vancouver Island, frequently sees the effects of Canada’s strict driving-under-the-influence laws.

During the May-to-September peak tourist season, four to five passengers a week are turned back by Canadian border agents at the Victoria dock.

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Unlike more than 100 university presidents at some of the most prominent schools in the country, Penn State President Graham Spanier declined to join a controversial initiative that aims to “rethink the drinking age.”

But several of the 128 university presidents who have signed onto the Amethyst Initiative have asserted the group’s true purpose is to launch a discussion on college-age drinking, not overhaul a 24-year-old federal law.

A statement on the initiative’s Web site calls for an “informed and dispassionate public debate over the effects of the 21-year-old drinking age.”

“[Twenty-one] is not working,” the statement reads.

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The Pa Superior Court held that expert opinion necessary to uphold motorist’s conviction for driving under the influence of controlled substances under 75 Pa.C.S. § 3802(d)(2). the Court held that introduction of lay testimony of erratic driving insufficient as a matter of law to sustain commonwealth burden of proof in drug interaction case.

Opinion below:

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