LET LEGISLATORS SHOW RESPONSIBLE BEHAVIOR

While a proposal by state Rep. Bill Foster and nine House colleagues to ban alcohol from the Missouri Capitol is presumably full of good intentions, the measure really isn't something the Legislature should concern itself with.

The bill introduced by Foster, R-Poplar Bluff, received a hearing in February before the House Miscellaneous Bills Committee, which didn't report it out of committee and won't with the session winding down. Foster says he will file it again in the next session.

A vocal proponent of the bill is Glenn Koenen, who chairs the Missouri Advisory Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse. He said alcoholic beverages have no place in the Capitol, "which should be a shrine to government, not a beer hall."

Koenen and other supporters of the measure, House Bill 467, said schoolchildren who tour the Capitol have seen dollies loaded with beer and liquor wheeled down the aisles. Koenen said the children have been pulled off Capitol elevators or made to wait while dollies loaded with alcoholic beverages were given priority.

If the latter has happened, not only Foster, Koenen and other supporters of the alcohol-ban legislation should be concerned, but so should every other lawmaker in Jefferson City, whether those dollies contained alcohol, reams of paper or any other supplies. Ordering anyone off an elevator so that a load of anything can be transported is simply uncourteous, whether it be children or anyone at the Capitol.

Alcohol is allowed on the upper floors of the Capitol where lawmakers and other elected officeholders have their offices. Drinking is allowed anywhere in the building, even on the floor of the House, although drinking there is confined to evening sessions.

There was a time when drinking in the Capitol and on the floor was much more common than it is today. But social attitudes toward use of alcohol and other drugs have changed, and abuse is not a big problem in the Capitol.

Legislating restraints is not the answer. Self-imposed controls and responsible drinking by those lawmakers who do drink is the better alternative. That might go a long way in setting the best example for children who visit the Capitol.

There are serious matters -- taxes, spending, highways, abortion rights and tax refunds, to name a few -- that deserve legislative attention. There is little need to spend a lot of time on new laws when a few good administrative rules would take care of any problems with booze in the Capitol.