Copyright 2001 The Columbus Dispatch

                              The Columbus Dispatch

                   October 15, 2001 Monday, Home Final Edition

SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 01A

LENGTH: 705 words

HEADLINE: OHIO 'DRY LIST' STILL TRACKING BIG DRINKERS

BYLINE: Mary Mogan Edwards, Dispatch Staff Reporter

BODY:

    When it first came about in the 1930s, the state's "dry list" probably made
sense: Keep the town drunks sober by banning all the taverns in town from
selling them liquor.

    Funny thing is, in an age when people don't know their neighbors
-- let alone
all the patrons in their bar -- and a thirsty drinker can drive to
any number of
bars farther from home, the list still exists.

    Across the state, aggrieved spouses, parents or siblings of problem drinkers
as well as the applicable mayor or township trustee can ask the Department of
Liquor Control to declare the person a habitual drunk.

    If, after giving both sides a chance to speak at a hearing, a department
lawyer decides the concern is warranted, then bars and liquor stores the person
frequents will be notified that they can no longer serve the person alcohol.

    Doing so becomes a third-degree misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of up to $
500 and up to 60 days in jail.

    State officials know the dry list is an unlikely way to keep anyone sober,
Liquor Department spokeswoman Patti Haskins said.

    In a big city, dry-listed drinkers can easily switch to a bar or store where
they're not known. In more rural areas, they can drive to the next town.

    About 80 names are on the list, but officials admit it is not updated to
account for those who die. Haskins said she doesn't know of any instances where
liquor-license holders have been cited for violating the law.

    "We certainly recognize the difficulties with enforcement," Haskins said.

    Although the department doesn't encourage the public to submit someone for
the dry list, it won't turn anyone away, she said. "I would never want a family
to think that we don't want to help them."

    Most often, people who try to put someone on the dry list are desperate.


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        The Columbus Dispatch October 15, 2001 Monday, Home Final Edition

    "Usually, by the time it gets to this point, it's a last resort," said
Dominic Panzera, an attorney for the department.

    "Most of them know it's a long shot, but it might be a step in the right
direction."

    Requests for dry-listing tell sad stories. A mother in Loveland near
Cincinnati, seeking to have her son put on the list, told liquor officials in
August of his long criminal record and frequent drunken driving, all of which
she blamed on his drinking.

    A year earlier, a Chillicothe father said he was sure his son would never
break out of his life of crime and drugs if he didn't stop drinking.

    A Kettering man, put on the list by his wife in 1994, complained that the
action was taken purely out of spite after he filed for divorce.

    In the Henry County village of Napoleon, village officials use the dry list
as a tool against repeat drunken-driving offenders.

    "The people I've put on the list are eight-time DUIs," village law director
David Grahn said. "They're in denial that they need help for their problem."

    Napoleon's bartenders bear the responsibility of knowing (and telling their
employees) who is on the list and making sure not to serve them. Some objected
to the listings until Grahn agreed to give them photographs of listed
individuals.

    Two of Mike and Vicki Saneholtz' regular customers at their Town Tap bar and
restaurant were put on the list in 1994. One of the men was following in the
footsteps of his father, who had been put on the list earlier.

    The couple don't mind following the law but figure they're way ahead of it
anyway.

    "When people get in trouble around town, we know that, and we don't serve
them," Mrs. Saneholtz said. "Even as a woman, I don't have a problem" cutting
off the chronic overdrinkers.

    Scott Durham, 41, still comes by the Town Tap for lunch and soft drinks.

    "When I drink, I don't want to quit. I can't just have one and let it go,"
said Durham, who amassed several DUI and disorderly conduct convictions before
Grahn petitioned to put him on the dry list.

    Durham accepted the limitation, although he felt he was being singled out.
"There's a lot more people than just me," he said.

    Now, "it honestly doesn't bother me. I try not to drink anymore," he said.
Though he once asked Grahn to have him removed from the list, he
appreciated the
law director's refusal.

    "He said, 'Scott, you're a nice guy, and if something happened to you, I'd
feel bad.' "


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        The Columbus Dispatch October 15, 2001 Monday, Home Final Edition

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