A new bar that borders the Southeast Missouri State University campus and caters to the college crowd with its "walk here, crawl home" slogan has sparked concern from Southeast Missouri State University officials.

School officials say they're worried the slogan, which ran in The Capaha Arrow student newspaper, encourages more binge drinking at a time when the university already is coping with too many drunken students. There have been seven alcohol poisonings in the first six weeks of school, none resulting in deaths, said Kevin Stewart, coordinator of substance abuse prevention and education at Southeast.

Law enforcement officials aren't blaming the White House Sports Bar near campus or any other tavern for the alcohol poisonings.

They point the finger at off-campus keg parties at rented houses where students pay $5 for all the beer they can drink and where there's little or no checking to see if drinkers are underage. The university is a dry campus -- no alcohol allowed.

Cape Girardeau police chief Steve Strong said his department, along with the Missouri Division of Liquor Control, plans to crack down on such off-campus parties. The hosts can be charged with selling liquor without a license and serving alcohol to minors, offenses that could carry stiff fines of up to $1,000 and even one to five years in jail.

John Browne, manager of the White House Sports Bar at 820 N. Sprigg, defends the bar's operations. While catering to college students with inexpensive drinks -- $1.50 for a bottle of beer and $1.25 for a 16-ounce draft beer -- and hip-hop music played by a disc jockey, the bar doesn't serve alcohol to minors, Browne said.

He said the bar isn't promoting irresponsible drinking.

The slogan, he said, refers to students getting exhausted from dancing at the bar rather than getting drunk.

But Stewart said students view it as a drinking slogan, not a dance slogan. "Nationally and certainly on our campus, the vast majority of students drink for the sole purpose of getting as drunk as they can," he said.

Grant Bowen, a 21-year-old senior, lives in the Cape Place apartments on Sprigg Street, a five-minute drive from the bar. He visits the bar about three nights a week.

"Cheap is the best thing," he said as he drank a beer. He likes the women too. "You can't beat the honeys out on the dance floor," he said.

Stewart said campus surveys show 53 percent of Southeast students are high-risk drinkers who consume five or more drinks in a single night.

Through classroom presentations and other programs, the university tries to educate students about the dangers of drinking too much or drinking at all if they're underage, Stewart said. Stewart individually counsels students involved in alcohol-related incidents.

Employees at Browne's bar check driver's licenses with a black light to weed out fakes, make all customers wear wrist bands -- one for those of drinking age and the other for minors -- and even use a special glass for minors having nonalcoholic "virgin" drinks.

"Because we cater to kids, we have to cover every possibility," said Browne, who even employs staff to mingle with the customers to detect any problems.

Browne said minors found sneaking a drink will be kicked out. Bar staff regularly spot people trying to get in with fake IDs or smuggle flasks of booze into the joint.

Close to residence halls

The White House Sports Bar, which opened on Sept. 17, takes up the lower level of a brick commercial building on Sprigg Street. It's across the street from the four high-rise Towers residence halls and close to five dorms that house fraternities and sororities. In all, 1,640 students live in the nine residence halls within easy walking distance from the bar.

That proximity to campus dorms concerns Stewart, particularly because the bar -- which is open from 7 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. -- caters to both drinking-age students and those under the legal drinking age of 21. Most of the students living in the Towers residence halls are minors, Stewart said.

Browne, a carpenter turned bar manager, said the White House Sports Bar -- owned by Cape Girardeau businessman Bob McDonald -- can hold as many as 400 customers.

"Most of the kids live within a six- to eight-block radius of the university," said Browne, who has had to turn students away some weekends because the bar is full.

Many of the students walk, although on weekends the gravel parking lot is packed, he said.

Browne said the business doesn't want to turn away underage students, but has started limiting that number to 50. Any larger number and it's hard to keep a check on them and make sure they aren't sneaking an alcoholic drink, he said.

No other place to go

Still, Browne doesn't want to ban the underage students who are looking for a place to dance and socialize. "They really have no other place to go in terms of night life," he said.

Amanda Schultz, an 18-year-old freshman from Imperial, Mo., who lives on the sixth floor of the Towers North residence hall, walked across the street and paid a $3 cover charge to enter the bar on Thursday night. Drinking-age students with college IDs are admitted for free.

Schultz said she and her friends came to dance. "That is the only reason we came because we can't drink," she said shortly after 10 p.m. as she waited for the dancing to start.

The bar crowd is a late-arriving one. Most customers don't start arriving until about 11 p.m. By midnight last Thursday, about 200 students were dancing and chatting with friends over beers.

Keith Hancock, 22, a senior who lives off campus in Cape Girardeau, said he and other students come to the bar because of the "cheaper prices" for beer. "Everybody in college is on a budget," he said.

Sara Shemeld, a 21-year-old senior who lives off campus, said some of her friends live on campus. "If you are drunk, you don't have to worry about driving home," she said over the din of the music as she stood near the crowded dance floor.

Strong, Cape Girardeau's police chief, said there's been no complaints of underage drinking at the new bar, but police will continue to monitor the situation. He said drinking by minors will occur at any bar that allows in underage customers and has happened at other local bars.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123