New Frostburg City Council Decision

Thursday evening, Frostburg City Council voted 4-1 to approve a new regulation for the city.  The city leaders have decided that groups renting out City Place, the community center located on Water Street, can now serve alcohol at wedding receptions and parties.  This decision ends a ban lasting four years in the city, however, there are many restrictions to accompany this change.

The regulations include a limit of 200 people in attendance, the party must be over by 10 p.m., and the hosts of the gathering are required to pay 30 dollars and hour to have city employed, on-site supervisors.  The number of supervisors required for the party is dependent on the size of the event.

While before, hosts were required to rent the Elks, Moose, Hotel Gunter, or other Frostburg businesses to be permitted to serve alcohol, this new regulation allows more options of venues.  City officials hope that this will not cause problems of competition with the other businesses.  The facility was rented 172 times in 2005, before the alcohol ban took place, and only two of the events chose to serve alcohol.

Other regulations enforced for the rental of the facility include applying at least one month ahead, a refundable $350 security deposit, and liability insurance with a minimum coverage of $1 million.  All applications must be approved by the chief of police, the commissioner of water, parks and recreation, and the mayor.  The security deposit is forfeited if police are called for any reason or if any of the rules are violated.

For more information on the decision visit the Cumberland Times-News.

Resources for alcohol education

Part of what I want to accomplish with this blog is to provide information to students about alcohol education. This Wed. "Tips training" is happening from 6-8 in the Atkinson rm. Also I am planning to get in touch with Burg Educaton network and discuss upcoming alcohol educational programs happening in the near future and where they are located. Lastly, I want to talk with Saferide president about what does and does not work with the program.

My Beat

This semester I will be covering the topic of alcohol here on campus. I want to look into resources on campus for students struggling with alcohol abuse, resources to educate students, and also how students feel about controversial topics such as lowering the drinking age, how students get alcohol, and the average amount students drink per week. I want to find out what organizations program the most alcohol awareness events, what bars are most frequent, and what year has the most citations.