Councilors on the Moscow Administrative Committee expressed an interest in greater collaboration with the University of Idaho in a community effort to curb issues of underage drinking and alcohol abuse on and off campus.
Moscow Police Lt. Dave Lehmitz, who heads the department's campus division, said a UI alcohol task force formed by former university President Duane Nellis has come up with several recommendations for how to better discourage alcohol offenses.
That includes extending jurisdiction for the student code of conduct off-campus and working with Gritman Medical Center to provide better statistical data regarding students going to the hospital for alcohol overdoses, he said.
The UI is already reporting to parents when a student is cited for underage drinking, Lehmitz said, which had not been done prior to this semester. Councilor Tim Brown wanted to know if students were aware of this policy, which City Supervisor Gary Riedner said they consent to when they apply for enrollment.
"That would be between the University of Idaho and its students," he said.
Lehmitz did find a fault in the city's use of diversion and alcohol awareness programs, where someone cited for the first time with an alcohol offense can have substantial fines and the charge itself dismissed if they complete such a course.
"The perception with the diversion program is it's a freebie," he said, adding the fine should not be dropped. "Without the consequence, it really doesn't mean anything."
City Attorney Rod Hall said emphasis patrols by police early each semester has been shown to help decrease alcohol offenses later in the year. One such emphasis patrol was conducted Friday and Saturday. Lehmitz said more than 50 citations for underage drinking - just on campus - have been issued in the past two weeks.
"So, something else has to be changed," he said, "and I think that's the consequence, and accountability has to change."
The task force is also recommending forming a coalition to continue looking at incoming statistics and assessing how well policy changes work once implemented. The task force calls for sanctions on living groups that promote high-risk behavior and handling alcohol offenses within residence halls internally rather than through the criminal justice system.
"I see some changes, which is good," Councilor Wayne Krauss said, "because doing the same thing doesn't necessarily affect different results."
Mayor Nancy Chaney said she has spoken with UI interim President Don Burnett and Dean of Students Bruce Pitman about getting the city more involved in combatting the issue of alcohol abuse and hopes for more dialogue between the two in the future.
"This is a town/gown issue," she said. "This is something that we'll be addressing together."
Moving the market
A little more than half of the farmers market vendors surveyed about where to relocate the seasonal event during the UI homecoming parade Sept. 28 responded, and of those, a little more than half said it should go back to the South Jackson Street parking lot.
When the market moved to Main Street last year, it was relocated to the Jackson lot during homecoming, but this year, the city wanted to see if there was another viable location it hadn't thought of, said Jen Pfiffner, assistant to the city supervisor. Still, a majority of vendors want to go to the Jackson lot, while about 10 wanted to somehow combine the parade and market on Main Street, which Pfiffner said was not possible due to space.
The city council still must decide on where to relocate the market.
Entryway beautification
A steering committee has met twice to identify areas needing improvement at each of the four entrances to the city, and an open house will be 5-7 p.m. Sept. 18 in the City Hall Council Chambers, where residents can express their ideas for how to make them more attractive to those entering Moscow.
Brandon Macz can be reached at (208) 883-4631, or by email to bmacz@dnews.com.
