University Police and Raleigh bars have cracked down on underage drinking after two Chapel Hill bars faced serious charges in July after a fatal collision.
Chandler Kania, 20, a former UNC-Chapel Hill student, was charged Monday with three counts of second-degree murder, three counts of felony death by motor vehicle, serious injury by motor vehicle, driving while impaired, careless and reckless driving, possessing an open container of alcohol, possession of alcohol by a person under age 21 and driving by a person less than 21 years old after consuming alcohol, according to The News & Observer.
Kania was able to obtain alcohol using a fraternity brother’s driver’s license found in his wallet. Traces of marijuana were found in his system at the time of the accident.
According to Major David Kelly, University Police has been working with the Government Highway Safety Program and Alcohol Law Enforcement to set up checkpoints around Raleigh and NC State for many years. Recently, NC State and the Alcohol Law Enforcement have worked together on projects targeting Hillsborough Street and Avent Ferry Road in attempts to prevent underage purchasing and sale of alcohol.
“We are trying to come up with programs that are beneficial to the students, to help their behavior and for them to make better choices,” Kelly said. “I think that’s where the challenge lies for us to have a program that we can deliver in a way that makes them have that ‘aha’ moment.”
Tyler Mills, operating partner of McDaids Irish Restaurant & Pub on Hillsborough Street, said the Alcohol Law Enforcement officials are impacting local bars by writing more tickets, which has started to turn some customers away, hurting sales.
McDaids’ alcohol sales dropped from $24,000 to $14,000 in the last four weeks due to these changes implemented by the Alcohol Law Enforcement, Mills said.
“Since this Orange County thing has happened, I’ve seen them every week since school started on my busiest nights,” Mills said. “That’s really bad for business, not because I’m serving to underage people, but it’s not a comfortable atmosphere with people looming — they’re here to have fun.”
When it comes to enforcing the law and preventing underage drinking, McDaids has even taken to hiring security for their busiest nights, due to hired security’s increased experience with detecting fake IDs, Mills said.
“Fake IDs have gotten to the point where they are so good, and people can get them anywhere,” Mills said. “They are that good. I strongly believe that this state needs to go after the people that are making the fake IDs, or they need to change the drinking age to 18.”
Mills also discussed the precautions McDaids takes to keep people from getting on the roads. “A lot of my guests will tell you that I will pay for cab rides,” Mills said. “We never want someone to drive. We never want that to happen.”
On Sept. 2, the state ABC Commission recommended the two bars in Chapel Hill that served Kania alcohol, He’s Not Here and La Residence, surrender their liquor licenses on or before Nov. 6, according to The Daily Tar Heel.
Kelly addressed the current climate surrounding underage drinking and precautions NC State is taking to tackle issues with alcohol consumption, particularly drinking and driving.
“I think we are dealing with a population age range of students that are close to that drinking age, away from home, and just hit 21 while here in college,” Kelly said. “I don’t think it’s a problem that’s unique to NC State, but it’s a problem that spans to all other universities.”
