University clubs still eating at borough leaders

Council may take tougher stand against drinking.

By: Jennifer Potash
   The Princeton Borough Council may take a harsher stance against alcoholic violations in the private eating clubs on Prospect Avenue unless the clubs take more responsibility for preventing intoxication and underage drinking.
   "They can’t continue to operate in an irresponsible manner," Mayor Marvin Reed said Wednesday at the council meeting in Borough Hall.
   The council has previously considered, and may soon take up again, an ordinance that would authorize borough police to enter private property to enforce underage-drinking laws.
   Under the proposed ordinance, violators could be subject to a $250 fine for the first offense and the loss of driving privileges for six months.
   The eating clubs all turned in their club liquor licenses several years ago, said Borough Clerk Penelope Edwards-Carter. And the borough cannot enforce the rules set by the state Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control unless the clubs hold licenses issued by the division, Mayor Reed said.
   The council directed Borough Attorney Michael J. Herbert to determine if the borough could compel the clubs to have licenses.
   Councilman Joseph O’Neill asked if the council has the authority to close the clubs.
   Yes, Mr. Herbert said, if the clubs are determined to be public nuisances.
   Incidents of underage and binge drinking at Princeton University have spurred the Borough Council to take another look at the ordinance.
   More than 15 students or students’ friends were treated at area hospitals for intoxication and injuries Feb. 9 and 10 during Bicker Week, the membership drive for the off-campus eating clubs. Alcohol served at the eating clubs also was a factor in two sexual assaults that occurred on the campus this year, according to police.
   And police are investigating whether alcohol may have been involved in an incident in which a 20-year-old Princeton University student fell from a second-floor window of the Cloister Club on Sunday.
   Since the clubs began holding parties this month, police officers have issued 19 summonses for ordinance violations such as a minor in possession of alcohol and having an open container of alcohol in the public right of way, Borough Police Chief Charles Davall said.
   The Police Department has assigned an extra two officers, for a total of five, to patrol Prospect Avenue during active nights on the street, he said.
   While his predecessor, Chief Thomas Michaud, supported the ordinance, Chief Davall said he is "taking a good hard look at it."
   At a meeting of the Public Safety Committee of the Borough Council in April, Mary Alice Teti, the adviser to the clubs, said the clubs have taken aggressive action to deter underage drinking on their properties, including using wristbands to identify students of legal age and adding security personnel to patrol the bars and tap rooms.
   Mayor Reed said the university’s debating society will host a forum on the proposed ordinance and related drinking issues at 8 p.m. Oct. 1 at Whig Hall.
   In other action, the council unanimously adopted a resolution denouncing the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 and pledging to share "whatever of our resources may be needed for the rescue and recovery efforts."
   Also, the council held a public hearing on an ordinance that would authorize $5.76 million for construction of the new library — the borough’s share of the upfront money.
   But the council tabled a final vote until the council members have an opportunity to review a memo by Princeton Township Attorney Edwin Schmierer outlining how payments will be made. The council is expected to vote on the ordinance at the next meeting Tuesday.