It's no secret that alcohol has played a large role in the tragedies that befell the Penn State community last semester.

The drinking town with the football problem has left lawmakers, residents and students alike scratching their heads in search of a working and practical solution that would curb alcohol-related tragedy.

One idea recently entered the public dialogue, however. The State College Borough Council is considering a per-drink tax on alcoholic beverages at restaurants and bars. The extra money gained by the tax would fund police services. While the effort to combat a serious problem is commendable, the actual logistics and effectiveness of the proposal are lacking.

First, while the proposed tax rate has not been determined, finding a rate that would benefit the funding while keeping business owners happy would be a difficult task. Even if the price of drinks does increase, students will still flock to the bars offering the best drink specials, and bar owners will adjust their prices and specials accordingly.

In regards to the suggestion that an increase in price will lower overall consumption, past examples will prove that it is just not true. Cigarettes are a very heavily taxed item, but people still seem to be smoking plenty of them around town. Perhaps a few students will feel a penny pinch from the extra cents, but the majority would continue just the same.

Bars have been finding ways to beat the system for decades. Most bars don't enter exact drinks into their registers, just prices. What would stop a bar from entering five miscellaneous items into the register when ringing up a customer, rather than entering five drinks? There's no way to monitor each bar and make sure the drinks are recorded accurately without placing watchdogs in the bars, and the borough doesn't have the funding for that expense either. This idea could conceivably work at sit-down restaurants, where itemized checks leave paper trails. But excessive drinking while eating a meal isn't the kind of drinking the borough is trying to combat.

Other areas in Pennsylavania, such as West Chester, have been lobbying at the state level for a similar tax for two years with no results. Minus the state backing to enforce these laws, the borough will have a difficult task in enforcing a law that produces positive results.

The borough's heart is in the right place in its search for a way to stop the alcohol abuse prevalent in State College.

Perhaps a more effective solution would be gaining more support and funding from Penn State, whose students are the reason the State College police force must set up camp in the Canyon every weekend.