Keg registration won't work

As early as July 1, it might be time for all you legal drinkers to think twice about supplying kegs for frat or house parties.\nIn yet another attempt to control drinking in Indiana, primarily on college campuses, the Senate has just passed Senate Bill 97 -- the keg tracking bill.\nWhat does this mean for all of you keg buyers? If Governor Frank O'Bannon and the Indiana House approve this bill, when you supply your underage friends with kegs for their parties in the Villas you will be tracked as soon as the keg leaves the cooler at Big Red.\nThis new law would require vendors to have purchasers sign their names next to a serial number that coincides with the keg. Through this serial number they know who you are -- and if the party where your kegs are located gets busted, then you are held responsible right along with all those running from the minor consumptions -- even if you aren't there.\nFifteen other states have passed similar laws. In Indiana, the bill is expected to pass within the next few weeks.\nLetters galore have found their way into The Indianapolis Star in support of this bill, as parents and crusaders against underage drinking naively believe this new law will curb underage drinking.\nWhile this should certainly make those not already intoxicated think twice about supplying kegs to parties -- especially in prime police territory like frats and the Villas, underage drinking will still occur in full force in college towns.\nThe problem with laws like this is while they should deter adults from supplying to those who aren't legal, this legislation fails to address the root of the problem. A real solution would be education about alcohol and drinking responsibly.\nUnderage drinking needs some form of regulation -- just like anything else illegal -- but education is at the root of any sort of controllable, realistic solution.\nResponsibility is key to many, if not all, problems associated with young adults. While it might be nice to hold someone of legal age responsible for a keg party, what will that really accomplish? Making the age 21 to get into a bar in Indiana has come nowhere near curbing 19-year-olds sliding through the doors at many bars. \nSB 97 states that "keg" means: "a brewery sealed individual container of beer…having a liquid capacity of at least seven and three-fourths gallons."\nWorst case scenario, if party after party gets busted, and the consequences for supplying the alcohol starts to mount, parties can now be filled with cases of beer or a bar full of Jack Daniels and all the other boys.\nThere is always going to be another source of alcohol.\nAny expectation of ending or greatly lessening underage drinking on college campuses is a shot in the dark. It's like convincing teenagers that all of them must stay abstinent -- it just won't occur.\nIf the goal is to keep kegs away from underage drinkers, this bill, if passed, will succeed in at least lowering the number of adults stupid enough to risk being responsible for fifty minors. I would hope that most of you keg suppliers won't even try it. But if the goal is to wage a war against illegal consumption by minors, Indiana legislators have stepped up to bat at a game that just can't be won.