UNCW says no to downtown party shuttle

Oh boy...this will be fun. First, I am a local 911 telecommunicator. I answer 911 telephone calls, and I dispatch for every law, fire, and EMS agency in this county. Therefore, I do believe that I am qualified and quite capable of addressing certain points of your comments. Second, UNCW sits inside the city limits, not to mention smack dab in the middle of the county. To assert that nothing involving UNCW or its students should be the concern of city/county residents is ridiculous. Let me prove this on the most basic level: When one of the precious little darlings - on or off campus - does something irresponsible and calls for help, where do you suppose that phone call goes? That's right...to any one of the consoles in the New Hanover County 911 Public Safety Communications Center. Our time (which is paid for by tax money from both the city and the county) is then spent dealing with students. WE don't look at it as assisting outsiders, and therefore neither should you. The campus, the city, and the county ARE intertwined. When the students decide to go downtown and get drunk, they affect citizens beyond the campus. When the students decide to stay on campus and get drunk...or burn food in their dorm rooms...or set of fire alarms due to "smoking" inside their buildings, their actions affect the citizens of the city and the county. Having to respond to the students and their silliness means that another person calling 911 has to wait. Because the campus and the students impact citizens from the city AND the county, those very citizens do indeed have every right to engage in this particular discussion. I for one would be all in favor of a tax-funded shuttle to help drunken and/or irresponsible students. That would mean fewer 911 calls from drunk college students calling 911 to demand a free ride home...or a free visit by a locksmith to come unlock their cars (something the citizens of the city and county do NOT receive unless their child or animal is locked in the car)...etc. IF and ONLY if the university ever decides to build a concrete wall and place a moat around all of its borders, then and ONLY then will citizens of the city and the county have no right to a discussion about the students' business. YOU are the one who needs to grow up. Stop thinking only of yourself, because guess what...just like the campus is inside the city AND the county, YOU live in OUR world. It's now YOUR turn to sit down and shut up with YOUR stupid and irrational arguments.

You act like the entire school operations, staff, etc, etc run off of student TUITION..LOL if it only worked like that...it takes TAX PAYERS MONEY to keep Universities afloat. LOTS OF TAX PAYER MONEY...so when something comes up about one of the UNC colleges...it most CERTAINLY is my business. Lastly, driving drunk shouldn't be a slap on the hand...get caught ONCE...ONE TIME you loose your car..PERIOD..it gets sold at auction to fund local schools. If you are a college student...YOU GET THE BOOT, LOOSE YOUR CAR and you can flip burgers and walk to work for the rest of your life..there is NO EXCUSE for getting behind the wheel of a car impaired!

I agree...there is no reason why the University cannot put together some sort of bus service for their students. Force the students to present their college IDs before they can board the bus, then you won't have to worry about residents trying to use the bus. They can have predetermined stops set up and have the buses run from 1030-230 Friday and Saturday.

It's to keep this country from continuing down the road to accepting people's irresponsible behavior and believing that society has to fund such nonsense. Hammer them. Make the penalties for drunk driving so Draconian that no one would dare drive drunk. The current penalties are a joke. There's no reason NOT to drive drunk!

YOU are OFF THE CHAIN, and therefore, it's difficult to take what you say seriously. No one is arguing that college kids should not ever engage socially, party, or drink. What we ARE advocating is that they take personal responsibility for their actions. If they are college students, they are at least 18 years old. (Hint: This country considers the age of 18 as majority...you know, no longer a minor but an adult.) The rest of us have to take responsibility for our actions, and it should be no exception for you precious little students. Having worked in Finance within the NC University System, I can also assure you that VERY FEW students pay full tuition. In fact, more than half of all students enrolled in public universities receive financial aid. Furthermore, the majority of students who do receive financial aid have more than 50% of their tuition paid through financial aid. Therefore, don't even try to squeeze blood from anyone's heart because you simply do not bear the financial burden you would have us believe you do. One more thing...I DID attend college. I hold a Master's in business. I made it through college without even one episode of drunken irresponsibility. You can too. Try it sometime...it's called being a responsible adult, and it's a skill you should try to acquire sooner rather than later, preferably by the time you graduate.

Have you ever heard of a cab?

You said: It is the least they can do to help students avoid DUI's and other hardships. Why is this anybody else's responsibility in any way shape or form? This "take care of me because I am irresponsible" mentality is really sad.

What is this all about? Did you miss the point here? And..... if you want transportation to those places the city buses and the numerous taxi services are here to help. Again we are looking for a free ride.... NO!

...at 0200 on a Saturday? What fast-food joints are open at Midnight on Front Street? This isn't about public transportation. It's about hauling around drunks. That's what it was designed for, that's how it was advertised, and that's why rational minds shot it down. Here's a bold idea no one has broached - why don't they WALK home? They're big, grown-up adults who can go get drunk downtown. Why can't they walk the few miles back to campus? Awwwwww.....not THAT big and grown-up, huh?

Well said.

When this guy said this... "UNCW senior Russell Jaskot said, "When every kid comes to college they're going to drink, it's going to happen" THEY SHOULD HAVE EXPELLED HIM RIGHT THEN AND THERE!!!!!!!!! How can UNCW tolerate a student movement on campus that promotes the "abuse" of alcohol? They should not. And those that "use" and are smart enough to not drive and drink, they can find a cab like everyone else in town.

would never work. That would cut into their hard earned drinking money!