Yesterday in La Crosse
Can I see your drinker’s license? A new idea 34 years ago
In the summer of 1983, Assemblyman John Medinger introduced a bill to require anyone between the ages of 18 and 21 in Wisconsin to get a license to drink alcohol. The minimum drinking age at the time was 18. Medinger said if a license was needed to drive, why not one for drinking? It turned out that people preferred raising the drinking age over getting a license. The following year, Congress passed a law forcing every state to raise the drinking age to 21, or else risk losing federal highway money.
A license plate idea for Iowa didn’t get very far in ’83. Transportation commissioners in Iowa voted to put a new slogan on the state plate…”Iowa, a state of minds.” It was intended to promote the Hawkeye State as a place for high-tech industries to locate, but the slogan received so much ridicule, the license plate decision was reversed just two weeks later.
“The A-Team” was a new hit series on TV in the summer of 1983, while “Three’s Company” was about to start its last season. New shows for the fall included “Manimal,” “Webster,” and “Scarecrow and Mrs. King”…34 years ago, Yesterday in La Crosse.
