SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Packing into a theater to see the latest big screen flick is a teenage rite of passage. Plenty of popcorn and soda is at the service counter but there's also something strictly for adults: alcohol. For some, though, the combination of liquor and kids in such a close proximity is too much.
"We think it just sends the wrong message," said Greene County Prosecuting Attorney Darrell Moore.
Moore, along with other concerned citizens, gathered signatures and submitted a petition to the City of Springfield to put a measure on the ballot to stop alcohol from being sold inside family-oriented theaters. Moore believes, when the movie starts and the lights dim, it's too easy for alcohol to end up in the hands of minors.
"Movie theaters right now can't even control cell phone use or the yakking and, yet, they're telling us that in a darkened theater they can control alcohol being passed to minors. That's ridiculous," said Moore.
Wehrenberg Theater management disagrees. In an interview in 2009 with KY3 News, they said employees keep a watchful eye on what's going on when the theater darkens.
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Petition drive aims to stop the sale of alcohol in movie theaters in Springfield MO
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"We monitor it very carefully; our theaters are checked often. We also walk through at different periods of time doing auditorium checks and that's what we do," said Kelly Hoskins of Wehrenberg Theaters.
Moore and others aren't buying it.
Should the initiative make it onto the citywide ballot in April, it will be voters who decide the fate of alcohol sales in theaters. Moore believes the right decision is to leave the liquor out of theaters.
"How many alcohol outlets do we need in a city this size?" said Moore.
The proposal would not affect theaters with an older crowd, such as the Moxy, because the initiative targets theaters whose percentage of ticket sales to people younger than 21 exceeds 25 percent.
