Our Drinking Culture Is Catching Up With Us

There is news of an overnight traffic crash in Racine County caused by an allegedly-drunken OWI violator with two previous convictions.

Under current Wisconsin law, that second conviction is only a misdemeanor: you have to be convicted a 5th time in Wisconsin for OWI before you've committed a felony and finally stand a decent chance of being removed for a substantial time from our highways.

Then we have the drunken rampage that ruined RiverSplash downtown.

Surprised? C'mon.

Some of these festivals have devolved into drinking festivals, and are less about the music and other entertainment.

I stopped going to RiverSplash years ago, even though my last two jobs - - in City Hall and at the newspaper - - put me literally at the festival's front door.

After a while - - and this is true for me regarding Summerfest, too - - you get tired of walking around with a bunch of people who are only there to get their big cups of beer, then get louder than the band.

Extending beer sales out onto the street at RiverSplash, with the routine heavy drinking that takes place nearby on Water Street, is asking for trouble.

Other cities seem to be able to carry off street festivals more easily (the big obvious exceptions being Madison's Mifflin St. Block Party and the annual riot there called Halloween), because when it's all about the booze, trouble will follow.