ONE DRUG PROMOTED, ANOTHER A CRIME; THAT IS HYPOCRITICAL

After singing patriotic songs of the United States, Canada and Germany the
Golden Keg is tapped. The Golden Keg is filled with fest beer from the
local City Brewery.

Rumor has it that this beer is of a higher alcohol content than most of the
beer it produces.

Young people waiting for their free beer.

Our governor, right before tapping of the Golden Keg and telling the
students that he was never here before, but if he was, it would have been
while he was a student and he wouldn't have remembered, insinuating that he
would have been too wasted to remember.

(The Tribune reported he said he was here as a student, which he didn't
say). What a cool guy! He's got my vote.

People threw out cups and poured the pitchers of fest beer for the start of
our nine-day drunk here in La Crosse.

The mayor handed out cups so the kids have a way of sharing their pitchers
of free beer.

He said he had a busy day ahead of him. This is just part of his job of
promoting the city of La Crosse and bringing in money for businesses.

Here's some young people with their free beer. Notice the kid with both
arms up. I don't see any armbands theoretically necessary for drinking.
Underage drinking is accepted at the Tapping of the Golden Keg.

Welcome to La Crosse, kids. Free beer to begin your lost weekend. Get
caught with a joint, though, and we'll haul you off to jail. Is this town
hypocritical or what? The night before, I saw a couple kids puking in the
streets. I saw a drunken girl kissing one boy and then his friend leaned
over and did the same and then two other of his friends surrounded her.
Boy, I'll bet she had an interesting night.

La Crosse promotes this drunken behavior, and it's so hypocritical it makes
me sick.

La Crosse had a chance to make possession of marijuana an ordinance
violation, similar to the ordinance Onalaska has, but the the city didn't
do it. Any kid who gets picked up with pot possession in this town gets a
criminal charge, a criminal history and will never be able to apply for
financial aid for college. Even a murderer isn't treated this way. You may
ask, do I smoke? No I don't, but that doesn't change my anger about this
situation and the hypocrisy. Neither drug is good for you, but one is
promoted and one is a major criminal offense.

It is common knowledge, though, that pot smokers aren't out on our streets
puking, fighting and ending up in hospital emergency wards. It's about time
that things change and that the city of La Crosse owns up to this hypocrisy.