YOUNG DRINKERS TO GET ZERO TOLERANCE IN ILLINOIS

Underage Missouri drinkers who decide to take their New Year's Eve celebration to Illinois will be subject to stiffer driving while intoxicated (DWI) penalties if they stay past midnight.

Illinois will become the 27th state to adopt a zero tolerance law, effective at midnight that takes away the driver's license from people younger than 21, even if just a trace of alcohol is found in their blood.

In Missouri, people under 21 who drinks and drives are subject to automatic arrest if they register a blood-alcohol content of .10.

In addition, the Missouri abuse and lose law strips underage drivers of their license for 90 days for the first offense and one year for the second. That same penalty is in effect in Illinois. The abuse and lose law in Missouri is already in effect.

The simple rule in Illinois will be that anything more than zero warrants at least a 90-day suspension of a person's license starting the 46th day after a police report is filed with the secretary of state's office. The delay allows the driver to seek relief in administrative hearings.

If the driver in Illinois refuses to complete the chemical test to determine blood-alcohol content, his driving privileges will be suspended for six months if it is the first offense and two years for a subsequent offense.

In Missouri, drivers lose privileges for a year if they refuse to submit to a blood-alcohol test.

In both Missouri and Illinois people can be arrested for driving while intoxicated below the .10 blood-alcohol level if they show probable cause, such as driving erratically.

The sharp contrast, however, can be seen in how Illinois deals with underage drinkers who choose to drive.

"It only takes one beer and you can be arrested for driving under the influence in Illinois," Don Priddy, community resource officer for the Carbondale Police Department, said. "Anything registered above. .00 is against the law after Jan. 1."

Priddy said the loss of a license will likely serve as an effective deterrent for many underage drinkers once they learn about the new law.

"We have a college town, so there are a lot of people under 21 drinking," Priddy said.

"After people start realizing they are going to lose their license with just one drink, it might make them think a little harder," he said. "I imagine the news will get out even more this week because it takes effect Sunday morning."

Cape Girardeau Police Sgt. Carl Kinnison said recently that statistics don't show an increase in DWIs over the holidays. However, Kinnison said police are aware of the potential for more drivers being intoxicated during this time of year.

Said Illinois State Police Lt. Richard Evans, District 22 commander, "On average, every 30 minutes someone dies in an alcohol-related automobile crash and that adds up to 17,461 lives lost in 1993. Highway crashes involving drivers and pedestrians who are impaired by alcohol or other drugs are not accidents. They are preventable."

A 1993 Illinois state survey of 13,000 schoolchildren found that 9 percent of high school students and 4 percent of junior high school students said they drank at least three times a week. Forty-two of all high school students who responded to the survey said they had been passengers in car accidents in which the drivers drank drunk.

Another phase of Illinois' zero tolerance law targets parents who do nothing to prevent their children's invited underage household guests from drinking. Parents would be fined at least $500 and jailed up to a year for failing to control access to liquor at home.

The law also bars a parent or guardian from permitting invited underage guests of their children to consume alcohol.

The law is aimed at keg parties and would probably only be enforced if authorities received a complaint.