Beer and movies just don't mix

Do we really need beer or wine in the state's movie theaters?

Special events at the Panida notwithstanding, the last thing I want while watching a movie with my nieces and nephews is somebody who's had a little too much to drink.

The Senate is expected to vote later this week to allow beer or wine to be consumed at four Idaho movie theaters — one in Boise, the Sun Valley Opera House and two Ketchum-based theaters to continue to allow patrons to carry glasses of beer and wine they buy from on-site bar and restaurant facilities into showings.

The businesses were told last year by investigators with the Idaho State patrol Alcoholic Beverage Control division that it was a violation of state law seeking to limit where alcohol can be consumed in order to limit young people's access to it.

Officials said they feared that people under 21 could use the cover of darkness to take illegal sips of beer and wine.

A measure that would have given local officials final say over whether people could drink in movie theaters, including those that don't currently allow the practice, failed 38-30 on the House floor late last month.

It's already bad enough that cell phones go off in the middle of a movie, do we really need to deal with folks who've had too much to drink, too?

Caroline Lobsinger is the managing editor of the Daily Bee.