The City of College Park arranged and hosted a private meeting last week between city and university officials, police officers, county liquor representatives and bar owners to discuss low alcohol prices in College Park bars, a university official said.

At issue is the Thirsty Turtle’s 25-cent Thursday night summer specials, which have been criticized by university and city officials.

Warren Kelley, an assistant vice president for student affairs at the university who attended the meeting, said the meeting was organized by College Park Public Services Director Bob Ryan, and 10 people attended to discuss the low-cost liquor.

“We all searched for solutions, understanding the risk that having very low prices for alcohol in bars very close to campus is a very dangerous practice. It simply provides very cheap alcohol that can be consumed in very large quantities,” Kelley said, adding he thought the meeting was productive.

At the meeting were Kelley, Ryan, College Park Mayor Stephen Brayman, the owners of three downtown bars, county liquor inspector John McGorty and Paul Dillon and Major Christopher Jagoe of the University Police. The identity of the tenth official at the meeting could not be confirmed. Mark Srour, who owns Santa Fe Café, Cornerstone Grill and Loft and The Mark, joined the meeting via telephone.

But the specifics of the meeting remain cloudy, as it was closed to the public and the press, and most of its attendees are unwilling to discuss the meeting. Kelley, the only attendee who would speak to The Diamondback, said the group discussed inexpensive alcohol at city bars but provided no other details of the discussion points or any outcomes of the meeting.

This meeting is not the first of its kind in College Park. In spring 2006, Cornerstone held a “Ladies’ Lockdown” that drew much criticism from the university and city officials. The event, which admitted only female patrons for two hours and featured one-cent beers, was supposed to make female students feel more relaxed without having to worry about men watching them, Srour said.

Srour met with city officials and was reprimanded by the county liquor board a week later, but he faced no sanctions for his low-cost, female-only drink specials.

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