Learning from Lincoln's binge drinking problem

Is it because it's the state's biggest college town, and home to Big Red football?

Or, maybe it's the conventions.

Then again, maybe it's the politics associated with being home to the statehouse.

For whatever reason, Nebraska's capital city is No. 4 in the country for binge drinking among young- and middle-aged adults, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

According to the CDC study, about 20 percent of Lincoln adults consumed five or more drinks in one session in the previous month -- the definition for a binge.

Nationally, 50 percent of people 18 and over drink, according to the CDC, and 30 percent of them occasionally binge drink.

Of course, the danger of alcohol include alcohol poisoning, cirrhosis, sudden infant death syndrome, fetal alcohol syndrome, as well as traffic accidents, sexual assaults, accidental pregnancies and the spread of sexual disease.

In Nebraska, about 360 people die of excessive drinking each year.

Actually, the University of Nebraska has been a leader in reducing binge drinking, according to the director of the program to do just that, Linda Major of NU Directions.

A Lincoln Journal Star story cited a reduction in binge drinking from 63 percent in 1997 to 42 percent now, according to Major.

That has come through backing police busts of wild parties, talks about drinking to student groups and residence halls, and offering nondrinking social events.

As somewhat of a college town itself, McCook certainly offers its share of opportunities to drink more than we should.

As home to a junior college, however, it's a little more clear-cut. Traditional students at McCook Community College have no business drinking, since the legal age in Nebraska is 21, and alcohol at any type of function for students should be out of the question.

We're not naive enough to think local college-age students abstain completely, however, and the college and community should take the lead from NU's efforts to cut down on binging.