Friday, April 25, 2003

PURELY BUSINESS

this entry is purely business... tonight i had to sit through the illustrious pannel of 'experts' as assemebled by the Res Life Programming Office; about the 21 ordinance in Iowa City. well proposed ordinance. well the proposed 19 ordinance. well the throw-together proposed 19 ordinance. well, really its the throw-together proposed 19 amendment to the 21 ordinance. yeah... its all that pushed by 4 members of the city council seeking re-election next fall. anywho. with this expert pannel, of which i was a member? sat these other 4 members of expertise on the issue. a bar owner, the mayor, the head of stepping up, and the uisg vp. so thats three experts; one bar owner. really that makes it 2 experts, one immature, loudmouthed student, and one bar owner. and myself. actually.. its 1 expert, myself, the immature loud-mouthed student, the bar owner; and a career politician who "came here for school and never left 40 years ago" im still not quite sure how i figure into all of this. but im sitting there. and we start off as a pannel really, each explaining things, keeping cool... minus the bar owner and the stepping up director. uisg blew off the event till it was half over. didnt bother to show till we were almost done with our gentlemanly discusison. she then claimed her chair, and did nothing but insult and make rediculous comments, totally out of the scope of the event. the bar owner was even unhappy with her. the mayor and i corrected her on every instance of state and municipal ordinance; and stepping up made the correct arguments against her elementary points. but the bar owner argued why it was unfair to be targeted, the stepping up man argued why it was fair to target him. the uisg rep argued that it wasnt fair for students. the mayor complained how this was the state of iowa's fault. and i sat on the edge. i answered the questions as addressed to me. i slammed home my points as necessary. and i kept quiet. it went something like this: the 4 experts argued amongst themselves, while i was the only one giving intelligible answers to people. uisg kept wanting to make this some sort of extrapolatory issue about championing for underager rights; stepping up threw out statistics upon statistics; the bar owner complained about it being unfair; and the mayor did his part to distance himself from the blame. getting the picture? i think all 10 in the audience did as well.... lets see it was 3 hall coordinators, the AD for Res Life, susan, the wife of the bar owner, the kid running the video camera, traci from USA Today Chicago, and about 4 RA's. stellar turnout. nevermind the issue at hand for discussion was 'decided' upon tuesday night.. making the point of all this pretty point-less. so the bar owner complained about the need to attack Hy-Vee; uisg wants to represent the students [even against their wishes], stepping up had more statistics about it all; and the mayor zoned out after giving anecdotes about paving streets. i sat on the far right of the stage. i took notes. then stopped. then played with my pen. i wanted to go home. the experts droned on about calling in the firedepartment to check on things like person capacity; the mayor explained how to; stepping up had a fact; the bar owner said we should do it to Hy-Vee. i sat on the edge of the stage, and waived to tracy. they asked me a question. i gave a well planned, 10 minute answer.. even Ross Perot'ed them with some charts and numbers. then they went back to talking about wristbands. i drank some water. they argued with stepping up. then they argued with the mayor. then they argued with the bar owner. always arguing against uisg. except the mayor. he went out of his way not to offend anyone. uisg tried. every thing said was 'a really good idea,' or 'i think youre really right, but' . i yawned. this was getting old pretty fast. i thought about reaching for my cd player. kieran scolded me. mike beck... moderator. even looked at a loss for a while. you cant moderate a verbal street fight. it would be like painting a car you drive off a gorge. let nature take its course, and well find ourselves on the ground eventually. so he did. i drank more water i think. by now my ears were getting dry listening to the experts. 1 RA leaves. the experts talk about the 19 ordinance as a sham to move to the 21 ordiance when it fails. uisg calls it a conspiracy; stepping up has a fact about towns moving in progression like that; the bar owner wants to know why we cant make Hy-Vee 19 and up.. the mayor mentioned something how this would all be alot easier if the state would just take care of it. i introduced another piece of evidence; i even brought copies.-- that no one took-- about similar civil ordinances; including the one from my hometown... a town with 4 colleges and universities, more than double the population... 5 times it if you count the urban area; and it has the same 21 ordinance language... and not 4000 posession tickets per year like iowa city. stepping up had some factoids. the bar owner wants to know whats wrong with us not going after Hy-Vee... uisg wants to make it obviously clear this drinking problem is a problem all over the state and world... contrary to what i introduced... and the mayor mentioned something about fishing in rivers not in mudholes. then uisg went to its plant in the audience... the newly head shaving uisg president... mr. "no more 21" - nate green. then it became a problem [through his questions] of the language of the ordiance... green's suggestion was obviously better. uisg rep said so. the mayor agreed. stepping up had a fact about georgia and oregon ordinances. bar owner suggested we were scared to go after Hy-Vee. i watched the moderator. he sat down. then i played with my notes; looking interested while the experts continued on. i think i talked 5 times all night. i was indeed inadept at useless anecdotes, like the mayor, to attack state government... and out of touch wiht the true calling of students to rise up against the man and his regieme of 21 only, like uisg. and my fact book was too small to suit stepping up. the bar owner was right to call me a chicken to take on Hy-Vee... i rather like their choice of deli meat.. herb roasted sliced beef sounded good. with melted pepper jack cheese. i finished my water by the time the experts considered the students finnally. then they let me talk. i think the moderator forgot i was there. im certain my microphone had been shut off to save batteries at that point. i talked at length about the safety efforts, and need of attractions to combat and draw away students from the alcohol... its the comradery and peer support the bar-ho'ing they are after... booze is a plus to them. the experts disagreed. they had facts and funny faces. angry words and resentment for grocery stores. and i sat on the end. i suppose i could write some more.. but you get the picture, right? its the students cant be wrong or to blame... since we are targeting them [yeah no shit], the bars think its unfair we target them and not Hy-Vee for selling beer [but Hy-Vee doesnt earn 4000 posession tickets per year], the city mayor wants the state to get this all taken care of so he can go back to fishing. stepping up like using facts. no one listened. it wasnt about listening or changing anyones opinon.. uisg girl went as far to categorize it like abortion. the mayor did mention he wouldnt touch that. stepping up had no facts for that one. the bar owner was making a "BURN DOWN HY-VEE" banner and wasnt available for comment. that was my night in the 5 man circus. how was yours?