A union leader in the state-owned liquor store system said he is concerned that increases in both liquor sales and crime in the State College area may result in store employees losing their jobs.
Ed Cloonan, president of the Independent State Store Union, which represents managers of stores under the control of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (PLCB), said the agency is sacrificing public safety for profit.
Cloonan said the sales rush may lead to a push by the public to privatize the system because the state is not doing its job by focusing on sales rather than regulation. That privatization, he said, would take away his job as well as many others.
The PLCB, the state's head regulatory agency of alcohol and overseer of the state store system, has instituted many measures in the last several years to increase sales. These measures have included Internet and Sunday sales, as well as large promotions on billboards and an increased line of products.
"If their first priority is making money and not public safety, then the state should not be in this business," Cloonan said, citing increased crime statistics in State College that coincide with 17 percent higher liquor sales.
But although others have seen more liquor sales as a problem linked with crime, state officials have said the new measures are necessary to keep the sale of liquor under state control.
Bill Epstein, spokesman for the PLCB, said the state system was nearly privatized about 10 years ago because of poor products and selections. He said state stores must remain competitive with other states' prices, or residents of the commonwealth will go elsewhere to buy alcohol.
"If we don't take these steps [to increase sales], we will be playing right into the hands of those who want to privatize the system," Epstein said, adding there is currently no push to privatize.
He added that people now crossing into Pennsylvania to buy liquor account for a significant part of last year's sales increase.
Cloonan said this concept, called "border bleed," does not apply to State College, which is as distant from a state boundary as one can be in Pennsylvania.
Epstein also could not account for the rise of sales in the area, but said sales campaigns are not putting alcohol into the hands of underage drinkers.
"They aren't shopping there in the first place," Epstein said. He added that it is the actions of people unlawfully giving those products to minors that lead to underage drinking.
Epstein said Cloonan represents a minority viewpoint.
"This protest is coming from a small corner that has opposed every step that we've used to make our stores better," Epstein said.
Don Houser, spokesman for state Sen. Jake Corman, R-Centre, said there is no current push from institutions or the public to privatize the state store system. He added that there was a serious push for that action during the mid-1990s, but it was defeated by the General Assembly.
Since that time, Houser said, the PLCB has been a "first-class" organization.
"People are responding in a positive light," Houser said.
But Penn State spokesman Bill Mahon said the increased sales and consumption of alcohol is a serious problem for the university community.
"The very big increase of alcohol has an impact on the quality of life here," Mahon said. "And that impact is a negative one."
Mahon cited rising crime statistics involving driving under the influence, assault and sexual assault offenses as proof of the problem.
But he added that the university would not try to influence legislation that would affect either the PLCB or the state store system.
Instead, he said, the university will continue to focus its efforts on alcohol awareness and education.
