Officials not worried about bar crowd

While many bars are gearing up for large crowds tonight, several East Lansing bars have said they aren’t anticipating many students to stay in the area for what has been called the biggest bar night of the year.

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving typically brings large numbers of people to the bars because people are visiting with old friends during the holiday, MSU police Lt. Gary Megge said.

“(During) Thanksgiving weekend, people come back to their hometown and go to the bar to see people they haven’t in a while,” he said.

On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving in 2008, there were nine fatal traffic crashes with 13 resulting deaths in Michigan, Megge said. Seven of the accidents were related to drunken driving, he said.

But because many students will have left East Lansing by tonight to return to their hometowns for the holiday, the East Lansing Police Department is not expecting many alcohol-related incidents to occur tonight, East Lansing deputy police Chief Juli Liebler said.

“It’s a nonissue,” she said. “It’s not really not even a comparison to some of our big nights. I’m sure people will be out, but it’s not something we’re worried about.”

In 2008, there were two drunken driving citations given out the Wednesday before Thanksgiving in East Lansing, according to the ELPD.

Eric Skusa, general manager of The Peanut Barrel Restaurant, 521 E. Grand River Ave., said he expects business to be similar to most Friday nights and preparations for the night are minimal.

“It’s kind of like a Friday for us because (the holiday is like) an end-of-the-week thing,” he said. “It’s good business because we’re busy.”

Brad Denton, assistant manager of P.T. O’Malley’s, 210 Abbot Road, said although he expects a smaller number of students to come out tonight, he doesn’t expect business to suffer.

“There’s usually a smaller percentage of students out, about 25 percent,” he said. “(But) it’s … like a normal weekend. Most clientele leave town but the locals come in and take over the bar scene.”

Advertising senior Ryan Anderson said he won’t be going to the bars in East Lansing tonight, and he doesn’t expect many other students to stay in town, either.

“Most students will go home to see their friends and go to the bar,” he said. “Students who stay (probably) aren’t a big deal for police because most people don’t drive here and the holiday spirit will deter fighting.”

Because of the increase of drivers and large bar crowds, Operation Combined Accident Reduction Effort, or CARE, will be implemented to combat drunken driving in all 50 states from 6 p.m. tonight until midnight Sunday, Megge said.

“We are going to dedicate our troopers to road patrol to focus on identifying and locating drunken drivers and intersection violations,” he said.

He said people who are traveling this holiday break need to pay close attention while driving.

“Drive defensively,” he said. “People cannot assume the other driver is going to do the right thing. You have to pay attention (to) a lot more than just driving your car.”