Reader:. Kudos to CRA for skirting impact of lower BAC law

Editor, NRN:

Pete Meersman and the Colorado Restaurant Association are to be commended for making the very best of a bad situation by convincing the Colorado legislature to allow restaurant customers to take home unfinished bottles of wine, "Allowing patrons to take home bottles of wine could put cork on drinking and driving," July 12, page 25. But I can assure you the advent of wine doggie bags will not "satisfy all parties."

Proclaiming, "We will not tolerate drinking and driving, period," MADD has declared war against anyone who drinks adult beverages prior to driving. Given MADD's view that "impairment begins with the first drink," we must recognize that they will not stop until they have achieved their goal of a 0.00 percent BAC arrest threshold

Frankly, MADD's relentless campaign against responsible on-premise consumption even may be affecting our perception of what's acceptable behavior. Who would have imagined 10 years ago that we would celebrate a law that allowed our customers to bring home a recorked bottle of wine ... with the top sealed in paraffin, in a stapled-shut doggie bag, locked in the trunk of their car?

John Doyle

executive director

American Beverage Institute

Washington, D.C.

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