The Michigan Daily, Summer, 1986- Page3
False ID puts alcohol
distributors on guard
Daily Photo by ANDI SCHREIBER
Joyce Jones and Kay Cummings eat a free dinner provided by Ann Arbor's Hunger Coalition in the basement
of St. Mary's Church on E. William St. Both are part of the city's large homeless population. Students last year
donated volunteer time and supplies to the city's two homeless shelters.
Freshman cations
to LSA rise- 7percent
By ROB EARLE
"Could I see some ID please?"
Reaction to this question all depen-
ds on a student's age. As the six pack
of beer, fifth of cheap liquor, or bottle
of wine sits on the counter, action in
the next few seconds will determine
the course of the night.
STUDENTS 21 years old and above
can nonchalantly pull out a drivers
license, toss it face-up on the counter
and return to their conversation, a
cocky smirk plastered on their face.
For those still too new to the world to
buy and consume alcohol under
Michigan's 21 and above statute, the
reactions vary.
"I forgot it."
"I ALWAYS buy here."
"ID? I haven't been carded in two
years."
Young, would-be drinkers soon
discover there is little chance of
coming up with an original excuse -
store clerks, bartenders, ushers, and
waitresses have heard them all. Fake
IDs seem to be the best way around
the law.
FAKE IDs come in many varieties.
Some are merely altered drivers
licenses. Michigan licenses are easily
changed with a little beige make-un
and a sharp pencil. A driver can thus
add years to her age.
Other fake IDs are known as
"ringers." Available through the mail
or from local novelty merchants.
these IDs look like official iden-
tification, but are missing state seals,
official signatures, or other_
legitimizing marks.
A third variety is the "big brother"
type. This is a legitimate ID used by
someone beside the owner. Since the
picture on the ID must have some
resemblence to the bearer, it is often
the ID of an older relative.
FINALLY, THERE'S the ID ob-
tained through legal channels through
illegal means - like using an altered
birth certificate to get a drivers licen-
se. While this appears to be the most
effective fake ID, it is also the most
dangerous, since the bearer is guilty
of perjury.
IN ANN ARBOR, fake IDs are
fairly common. While enforcement
agencies don't keep statistics, police
seize two or three fake IDs every
month, according to Detective Lt.
Paul Buten of the Ann Arbor police
department's special investigation
unit.
Despite police confiscations and
underage "plants" to secretly test
sellers, Buten said the number of fake
ID users has not dropped in recent
years.
"There is every bit as many fake
IDs as there has been in the past,"
said Ron Gill, district supervisor for
the state Liquor Control Commission
(LCC).
GILL said the only way to reduce
fake ID usage is through prosecution.
"The means for prosecuting fake ID
users is in the law," he said. But he
explained that local police depar-
tments often enforce the law only
against sellers, not underage
buyers. "What they need is a law
that does something to the kid that's
trying to buy," said Dennis Tice,
manager of Tices Liquor on State
Street.
OVERLAPPING jurisdiction for
fake IDs may be one reason for enfor-
cement problems. State liquor laws
and local ordinances governing
falsified identification are not enfor-
ced by the same agencies. The LCC
for instance, turns over cases of false
driver licenses to the Secretary of
State's office, but does not demand
they be confiscated. The City of Ann
Arbor however, does collect fake IDs.
While city police use fake IDs for
prosecution purposes, campus
security simply destroys confiscated
IDs given to them by ushers at the
Union's University Club.
Many local retailers don't even
bother to confiscate fake
ID.
"It doesn't do any good," said
Tice. "We generally don't con-
fiscate it," agreed Campus Corner
manager Gil Holbrook. Campus Cor-
ner keeps a large bound volume with
samples of all U.S. and Canadian
legal IDs for comparison purposes.
HOLBROOK AND Tice said their
respective stores are very careful
about checking ID. Buten confirms
this, noting that recent undercover
sweeps by police show package liquor
dealers have improved in checking
ID.
Bars, on the other hand, are not as
careful, he said. Buten said bars
check ID only about half the time
before serving alcohol. Such laxness
has led to temporary closures, in the
case of Dooley's in 1983, and fines for
the U-Club last year.
Since several incidents last year
when the U-Club served both un-
derage members and non-members -
violating its liquor license, restric-
tions have been tightened.
ACCORDING to U-club beverage
manager Don Dentling, it's all a mat-
ter of attitude. "We have a more
alert management that stresses
checking ID over selling drinks," he
said. For other bars, he said, the
profit motive often comes first.
All U-Club employeesastress alcohol
control, Dentling said. On especially
busy nights, the bar may have "a bat-
talion of people" watching the floor
for underage drinkers.
The U-Club has also taken a unique
approach to controlling alcohol. Un-
derage members and non-members
are required to sin a statement;
saying they are not entering the club
"with the intent of buying alcohol."
DENTLING said this not only in-
sures better control, but, "If we do
have a problem with that person, we
can go back and check the sign-in
sheet."
One LSA junior said he pasted his
picture on his brother's Florida
drivers license to purchase alcohol.
His brother is over 21 years old.
"A FRIEND made it," he said
proudly, with a newly purchased case
of Budweiser Light on his shoulder.
Yet he remains careful when he
uses his fake ID. "I don't use it
anyplace they check more than one
piece of ID," he said. "I've got the
whole thing-even the license num-
ber-memorizedas-wellas my own."
By PHILIP I. LEVY
Despite a nation-wide drop in high
school graduates and increasing
competition among universities for
quality students, the number of ap-
plications to the University's College
of Literature Science and Arts rose by
more than seven percent this year.
The rise marks the third straight
year of increases.
But despite the University's recent
success, the future could be somewhat
bleak. According to MichaelDonahue,
associate director of the University's
admissions office, demographic
studies have projected that
graduating seniors in the University's
prime recruiting areas will decline by
15 to 30 percent.
THE DECLINE, attributed to a
drop in the number of births after the
baby-boom period of the 1960s, has
caused major concern among Univer-
sity administrators.
This year, over 10,000 applications
were from out-of-state, Donahue said.
The exact size of the freshman class is
unclear but the admissions office
aims for a class of 4,400 - about one-
third from out-of-state and two-thirds
from Michigan.
Other than Michigan, the Univer-
sity draws most heavily from New
York, New Jersey, Illinois, and Ohio.
All of these states are expected to ex-
perience a drop in potential college
students.
MICHIGAN is also predicted to
drop, and students from five counties
from which the University draws 70
percent of in-state students, are
projected to decline more than the
rest of the state, Montgomery said.
Cliff Sjogren, the' University's
director of admissions, is nonetheless
optimistic about the prospects for
University recruiting. He said the
Great Lakes area has been hit hardest
by population declines since the late
1970s, and Michigan has been the har-
dest hit of the Great Lakes states.
Despite this drop, he points out, the
University has still seen record num-
bers of applications.
"We're bucking that trend," said
Sjorgren. "This University is in as
good as a position as anybody in the
country to meet the problem."
DONAHUE attributes the Univer-
sity's success to good publicity and
active recruiting. University sports,
student activities, and the state's im-
proving economy help the Univer-
sity's image, he said.
Donahue contrasted the Univer-
sity's image with that of Michigan
State. He said that choosing a college
is a family decision and such highly-
publicized incidents as the MSU dor-
mitory fire and a pornographic film
recently made by students have hurt
the school's recruiting image.
MSU remains the University's
biggest competitor for in-state
students, said Donahue. Nationally,
the University competes with North-
western, the University of Pen-
nsylvania and the Ivy League schools
because many students who end up at
Michigan also applied to those
schools, he added.
Mathematics Prof. Hugh Mon-
tgomery, a member of the LSA Blue
Ribbon Commission established in
part to deal with the demographic
problems facing the University, said
the recunt increases were due to an
"increasing awareness that the
University is offering a very good
education for the price. There is a
research excellence here comparable
to Ivy League schools."
Both Montgomery and Donahue
said recent books which rated the
University highly and described it as
a "public Ivy" had been helpful.
The University has also recruited
far more actively in recent years.
Donahue said Michigan was "a
sleeping giant" six or seven years
ago; the admissions office was not
doing a lot of things it could have.
Now, he said, "we're working as hard
as we ever have."
"We're after the very, very, very
good student," said Donahue. "So is
everybody else."