Tuesday, May 31, 2005

Lawmaker Wants Lower Soldier Drinking Age

Lawmaker Wants Lower Soldier Drinking Age

Only in Wisconsin:

One Wisconsin lawmaker figures if the U.S. military trusts 19-year-olds with a $10 million tank, then the state should trust them with a beer.

State Rep. Mark Pettis, a Republican who served in the Navy, is pushing a bill that would drop the drinking age to 19 for Wisconsin soldiers — but only if the federal government agrees it will not yank an estimated $50 million a year in highway aid.

A federal law ties federal highway dollars to compliance by the states with the required drinking age of 21.


Not a bad start, but there's lots of ways to serve one's country so why limit it to just troops? And how does one rationalize excluding the 18 year old adults?

Still this is the first I've heard anyone in elected office addressing this - and sorry to say it's not a member of my team.


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