Local officials see positive impact of alcohol-free zone

It's a bad combination one law enforcer has seen over and again at the Kinkaid Lake Spillway.

"You mix alcohol and heat, you got a problem," said Lt. Michael Teas of the Jackson County Sheriff's Department.

Alcohol-induced fights and other crimes at the popular outdoor hangout were common before the May 25 drinking ban, Teas said, but things have cooled considerably the past two and a half weeks.

The new regulation doesn't make for a heavier workload, Teas said. Sheriff's department personnel usually patrol the area two times a day depending on the number of people at the Spillway. At other times, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources' Conservation Police aren't far away.

Sgt. Tony Rendleman, the Benton-based chief of the area's conservation police, did not return calls for comment, but a department spokesman found no record of drinking citations since the ban's inception.

DNR records show that conservation police logged more than 1,200 alcohol-related arrests, filed 28 reports of criminal damage to property and responded to more than 30 fights in the past five years.

Because the ban is now an administrative rule by a state agency, only conservation police can issue tickets for drinking in the alcohol-free zone. Local police can still write citations for underage drinking and other offenses, but can only give warnings for drinking in restricted areas or alert conservation police of offenders who are of age.

Teas said the ban has paid off in many ways.

"The place is extremely clean and people are thankful there is an alcohol ban," he said. "It's definitely had a positive effect as far as we're concerned."

Debbie Best and her 4-year-old son Maddox, both of Vergennes, played in the water and looked for tadpoles Sunday. She recalled a few uproarious times at the Spillway in the early 1990s when she studied at John A. Logan College.

Her most memorable time was when two friends from Indiana stripped off their suits and ran down the beach area in front of about 100 strangers.

Best said she enjoyed coming to the site when she was younger, but was glad the ban was in place so she could take her family there.

"This has always been a beautiful place. Apparently some people just got carried away out here, maybe didn't care about the environment here," she said. "I think it can be a good family friendly place."

David Fligor, manager of the Kinkaid-Reed's Lake Conservation District, said litter was another big problem at the Spillway. He said it wasn't uncommon for cleanup crews to fill an entire dumpster after a busy weekend.

Fligor said the ban probably could have been avoided if people were responsible.

"It seems that a college student can carry 10 cases of beer up that hill, but they can't carry one can over to that trashcan," he said.

Daily Egyptian