Cruise night revelers may wind up walking

In what to the defendants must seem like a cruel irony, their evening of celebrating American car culture could keep them from getting behind the wheel.

The Nebraska State Patrol said 78 juveniles were ticketed for illegally possessing alcohol on Saturday night during the Kearney Cruise Night.

It should have been no surprise. The patrol, and other law enforcement agencies said they would be cracking down on underage drinking and driving under the influence during the event, which has seen its share of drinking participants over the 24 years it has been observed.

This year is the first, however, where judges can suspend the drivers license of minors under 18 caught with alcohol, even if they were not in a car. The new law was designed to get the attention of underage drinkers by taking away one of their most cherished privileges, driving.

Besides the MIP tickets, a state grant of $5,000 also paid for overtime that helped law enforcement make two arrests for driving while intoxicated, 13 for having open containers of alcohol in a vehicle and four citations for possession less than an ounce of marijuana.

It will be interesting to see to what extent the new license sanctions are applied.