State may consider lower drinking age

By John Shaughnessy S taff R ep o rte r T h e In d ia n a H o u se of R ep resen ta tiv es will vote e ither T hu rsday or F rid a y on low ering the s ta te 's d rink ing age to 19, accord ing to Tom B lack, coo r­ d in a to r of the N otre D am e S tudent Lobby. A lthough B lack exp ressed op­ tim ism th a t the House will approve the bill, HR No. 1104, he s ta ted "the strong co n se rv a tiv e fo rce” th a t ex is ts in Ind iana could lead to the b ill’s defea t. ‘‘I t ’s going to be difficult bu t I think we can get the bill through. The vote will defin itely be c lo se ,” B lack said . B lack ’s an a ly s is w as s im ila r to R ep resen ta tiv e R obert D uCom b’s. ‘‘It is rea lly h a rd to say w hat the m ood of the House is a t th is tim e. The vote in the com m ittee w as rea lly close and th a t’s the w ay I think it will be in the H ouse,” s ta ted DuComb. R ep resen ta tiv es S tan Jones (DL afaye tte ) and M arilyn Schultz (D B loom ington) in troduced the bill w hich orig inally sought a legal d rink ing age of 18. The o rig inal bill w as la te r am ended to 19 by Rep. R ichard Bodine, a strong su p ­ po rte r of a low ered drink ing age. Bodine added the am endm en t a f te r con ferring w ith B lack and K urt F lock, p res id en t of the In ­ d iana S tudent A ssociation. (The ISA listed a low ered drink ing age a s its top p rio rity for the y e a r and has estab lished a s ta tew ide lobby for th a t pu rpose .) C om m ittee C om prom ise A ccording to B lack, a com prom ised legal age of 19 had to be m ade when the bill w as sen t to the House Public Policy Com ­ m it te e . Tw o k ey c o m m it te e m em b ers, C lifford A rnold and C raig C am pbell, w e ren ’t su re they could support a legal age of 18. Both leg is la to rs , B lack s ta ted , ag reed to support a 19-year-old drink ing age. ‘‘T h e re a s o n th e y c o u ld n ’t support 18 w as th e ir fe a r th a t alcohol would be in troduced into th e h ig h sc h o o ls , ” B lack e x ­ p lained.