I was disappointed with community bar owners when I read the article "Bars join 'epic battle' to move Irish holiday" (Feb. 7).

My Irish holiday does not happen during St. Patrick's Day but the weekend before or after.

I travel an hour and a half every year to celebrate St. Patrick's Day with friends.

One of my friends is from Ireland.

Every year we plague her with questions about Ireland.

How do they celebrate St. Patrick's Day in Ireland?

Not surprisingly, it is not the drunken fest us "Americans" have incorporated it into.

I have heard stories from professors about beer bottles rolling down the aisle during class.

Students wait eagerly to see how early they can get into the bars to that first drink. Last year, when my office was located downtown on Beaver Avenue, at 10:30 a.m.

I watched a girl so intoxicated that she was weaving when she walked.

I had three intoxicated individuals come into the office, look around and then stumble back out realizing they were not where they should be.

The Mount Nittany Medical Center has enough issues dealing with emergency room visits because of drinking on ordinary weekends.

I will not even get into the number of visits during football weekends.

The bar owners are concerned that they are going to "miss out on the benefits of St. Patrick's Day."

Yes, they may lose some benefits of St. Patrick's Day celebrations.

But the community and university has been impacted by reckless drinking.

The bars need to step up and take some responsibility with these issues and not try to profit from excessive drinking.