Students more aware than ever after Alcohol Awareness Week demo goes awry

By LISA CORNWELL
Associated Press

AKRON, Ohio A college student who volunteered to take part in a
demonstration on the dangers of getting a little tipsy overdid it and wound
up in the hospital, fallingdown drunk.

David Reynolds, a 24yearold civil engineering major at the University of
Akron, had too much vodka Wednesday night as part of the "CopaBuzz"
demonstration.

He was released from the hospital Thursday. His parents took him home for
the weekend, and the school wouldn't say where they lived.

"It is obvious that some liberties were taken with the execution of the
program," said David Stephen, university director of residence life and
housing.

No one was able to say how much Reynolds drank. Police didn't check his
bloodalcohol level before he went to the hospital.

The demonstration during the school's Alcohol Awareness Week was intended
to show how even small amounts of alcohol can hamper motor skills.

Reynolds and two other student volunteers were supposed to drink just
enough to hit a .08 percent blood alcohol level, slightly below the .10
percent limit for driving in Ohio.

In past years, one volunteer drank liquor, another beer and the third wine
in front of an audience of students and university police chaperones. After
the volunteers finished their drinks, they performed a sobriety test.

This year, however, organizers decided to get the volunteers drinking two
hours before the demonstration.

By the time police arrived, Reynolds was slumped and having trouble
walking. Reynolds had participated in the program last year without incident.

Some of the school's 24,000 students said the whole idea of the program was
silly.

"It's pointless," said Dave Wehner, a sophomore who said he doesn't drink.
"College students know what their limits are."