Tailgating cutbacks too lax

Tailgating cutbacks too lax

Now that the trial is over for the first of the Johnson brothers accused of killing two men before an N.C. State University football game, let's be thankful that the university is so serious about curtailing the rowdiness at pre-game tailgating.

So serious, for instance, that no effort was made to curtail booze consumption.

As it is in most instances of moronic or violent behavior, alcohol was cited as the lubricant that turned a parking lot confrontation into a double-murder trial. Had alcohol not been prominently involved -- suspects and victims were all too drunk to legally drive -- the confrontation might have ended with a few scratches and loosened teeth.

Add a gun to the volatile mix of booze and testosterone, though, and you have this: Kevin McCann and his buddy, 2nd Lt. Brett Harman, dead, and Tim Johnson convicted of murder, his brother Tony on deck.

Any poolroom philosopher or bootlegger will tell you that if a man and woman drink together long enough they'll eventually start loving, and if men drink together long enough they'll start fighting.

That's why it is as baffling as a second-down punt that NCSU is doing so little to shorten the pre-game revelry.

Capt. Joe Goodrow, a campus police spokesman, said that before the shootings last year, there was no limit to the amount of time fans could start pre-game festivities. You could, ostensibly, have started the night before.

After the shootings, tailgating was limited to five hours before kickoff. This year, fans have only 4 1/2 hours to get ready.

Four-and-a-half hours?

Those responsible for this laughable limit think that that last half-hour was the problem, or they have no idea how drunk and obnoxious you can get in 4 1/2 hours. I've got a feeling they're going to find out.

'Scuse me, Cap'n, but doesn't giving people that much time to drink seem counterproductive to the aim of decreasing booze abuse and violence?

"You're asking the wrong person," Goodrow said. "Our job is just to enforce the rules they give us."

Not even a UNC fan could think that NCSU wants games marred by violence. But even die-hard Wolfpackers must know that the university doesn't want to risk alienating alumni who prefer a little -- or a lot -- of bottled attitude adjustment.

You start forbidding people to drink or restricting how much they can drink, and the next thing you know, alumni are staying home watching the games on TV. Not only will concession stand and parking revenues drop, but some alumni may stop opening their wallets as wide as before.

Then, of course, training facilities won't be as state-of-the-art, and luxury skyboxes -- for alumni who don't want to rub shoulders with the drinking masses -- will be less luxurious.

Dr. Marianne Turnbull, coordinator of health promotions with NCSU's Student Health Services, said members of a student and faculty coalition could only talk about limiting alcohol consumption. "The decision," she said, "is up to Dr. Stafford [Thomas Stafford, vice chancellor of student affairs] and the board of trustees."

None of whom, I'm guessing, are in the parking lots with the drinking masses. They're most likely safely ensconced in the luxury skyboxes.