HomeMy WebLinkAboutA001 - memo regarding an ordinance to provide a new definition of intoxication OI ICE MEMORANDUM
TO honorable Stuart N. Smith & City Council Members DATE January 19 , 1972
FROM J. F. Bishop, City Attorney
SUBJECT Ordinance providing a new definition of the offense of intoxication
i��lll In Chal�tc Miscc 1 an(-c_lis 0ffrnnSc!-1 The ordinance as it now reads allows the police to enter private
homes and make arrests for intoxication. For your information, I have
always been of the opinion that one should not .be removed from his own
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alcohol and punishes very heavily those who drive vehicles while intoxi-
cated. In my opinion, there is no better place for one to become intoxi-
cated then in his own home. Therefore , soon after my arrival in Ames ,
I instructed the police that if an individual disturbs the peace in his
own home, he should be so charged with that offense rather than to be
charged with intoxication.
The change at this time was precipitated by the change in the State
law relating to liquor and beer control. The State law, prior to 1972 ,
defined intoxication in the terms of the present ordinance as found in
Sec. 24-1042. However, the new liquor and beer control law changed the
definition to make intoxication an offense only if the individual is
found intoxicated in a public place. Sec. 3-3005 of the ordinance recently
enacted with regard to beer and liquor control, applies only to being found
drunk in a public place. Therefore , the section on intoxication found in
Chapter 24 of the Municipal Code should now be changed.