The Free Press, Mankato, MN

Local News

March 28, 2011

Drunken nuisance law a go

By Dan Linehan Free Press Staff Writer

MANKATO — Getting drunk and making a nuisance of yourself isn’t a civil liberty, the Mankato City Council decided Monday in a unanimous vote on a new law regulating so-called “disruptive intoxication.”

That the law gained the support of college students was a testament to its perceived reasonableness, especially in a city where students have clashed with the council on alcohol issues in the past.

All that Minnesota State University’s student government asks is that the enforcement of the law be monitored to ensure it isn’t over-used.

The only real question the ordinance raised from council members was why it was necessary.

Public Safety Commander Matt DuRose said there have been many times in his 11 years as a police officer where there “hasn’t really been a course of action” when confronted with someone making a pain of him- or herself.

A common example is public urination, which is not necessarily illegal under state disorderly conduct statues. The city attorney has explained disorderly conduct requires a victim, which is hard to find when someone is urinating in Jackson Square at 2 a.m.

More to the point for Councilman Charlie Hurd, the law also specifically bans “loud, boisterous yelling,” the early-morning version of which has long been the bane of many of his constituents.

Police emphasize the law will be enforced on a conduct-first, intoxication-second basis. That means they’ll be looking for people causing problems, not looking for drunk people and finding a problem.

Mayor Eric Anderson said he trusted police not to use the new law as a pretext to wage a campaign against the merely intoxicated.

No one testified against the ordinance.

Mankato resident John Hendrickson said it’s always a challenge to weigh the rights of individuals against the demands society puts on them, but added this law strikes a good balance.

Stephen Woehrle, a longtime Fourth Street resident who said he lives on the periphery of what he called the downtown “battle zone,” asked if there would be any enforcement of the law in the neighborhoods.

If enforcement focuses on the few blocks around the bar district, he wondered if the problem would merely move closer to him.

“I’d rather have them all pee in Jackson Square,” he said, referring to the downtown park.

Specifically, the law bans “loud, boisterous yelling, urinating in public, lewd or combative conduct, disobeying a police officer’s lawful command or interfering with the flow of pedestrian or vehicular traffic.”

Intoxication is determined using a breath test or a field sobriety test.

The new law will take effect in about 30 days.

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