Minors Still Filling Up Downtown Iowa City Bars

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By James Steward

Story Created: Apr 15, 2011 at 6:52 PM CDT

Story Updated: Apr 15, 2011 at 6:52 PM CDT

Crowds of UI minors are legally taking advantage of the law that legally allows them to be in a bar until 10 p.m.

“Everyone is heading down to go to the bar for as long as they can,” said UI first year student, Jenna Smith. “Then (at 10 p.m.) they leave to go to an apartment or fraternity.”

According to police, there has been a sudden increase in downtown bar population during the earlier hours of the night. This is a result of an ordinance voted on by the Iowa City City Council last year, which changed the legal age for a person entering a bar after 10 p.m. to 21.

“People start to figure out how to get around the law, and they’re going down and drinking,” said Iowa City Police Sergeant Denise Brotherton.

Brotherton said the change in behavior isn’t easy for the Iowa City Police Department to handle because the downtown population increase happens during a busy time for police.

“You still have a lot of crashes going on then, and a lot of people coming home from work wanting to make a report of something that happened during the day,” said Brotherton.

According to Smith the law is also, in a way, promoting underage binge drinking.

“Everyone is already drunk by 8 o’clock,” Smith said.

“Going and drinking as much as you can until a certain time and getting out of there, that’s not solving our problem,” said Brotherton. “We’re finding them later on where they’re in a (bad) situation or have gotten sick.”

Brotherton said the Iowa City Police Department is only starting to adapt to the sudden change and is trying to adjust where they patrol. She said University Police will play a key role in trying to combat the developing problem.

“It’s really a joint effort,” she said.

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