Council still deliberating on bar admission

Maryville City Manager Greg McDanel asked local news media this week for help in quashing rumors that the City Council was planning to act as quickly as possible to restrict bar and tavern admission to patrons age 21 and over.

Though the council has discussed such a move, McDanel said, no immediate action is planned, and the matter was not discussed at Monday's meeting.

Following a Department of Public Safety presentation on the issue late last month, Mayor Glenn Jonagan said the city would not change the age limit before thoroughly studying all of the factors involved. Jonagan added that he expected those deliberations to take a fair amount of time.

"I want to emphasize that this is a process — a lengthy process," Jonagan said. "We want to make sure we have all the public input and all the data."

McDanel said rumors about an imminent decision on the part of the council were apparently fueled by gossip spread through electronic social media.

Missouri's legal drinking age has been 21 for decades. However, since the 1990s, Maryville has allowed patrons as young as 19 to enter establishments whose primary business is to serve beer and liquor by the drink. Before that, no age limit existed.

Not surprisingly, the issue has also created contention in other Missouri college towns, each of which has responded in different ways. On Oct. 22 Sgt. Jeremy Ferris of Maryville Public Safety addressed the council and summarized approaches taken by several cities.

Of the eight communities queried by MPS, five require patrons to be 21 years old before entering a drinking establishment.

The 21-and-over communities are: Warrensburg (University of Central Missouri), Springfield (Missouri State University), Columbia (Missouri University), Kirksville (Truman State University) and Joplin (Missouri Southern State University).

In addition to Maryville, the under-21 towns include St. Joseph (Missouri Western State University), which nevertheless applies an age-21 standard after 8 p.m. unless the underage patron is accompanied by a parent or guardian.

Other cities in the under-21 camp include Rolla (Missouri University of Science & Technology), which has no age restriction; and Cape Girardeau (Southeast Missouri State University), which extends bar entry to anyone over 18.

Poll data gathered by the Substance Abuse Task Force at Northwest Missouri State University indicates that many college students have already been drinking when they show up at local bars. The poll also indicated that student alcohol consumption inside bars and restaurants has increased over the past two years.