" The goal of the task force isn't to prevent people who want to go onto the levee from going there. The levee should be closed at night, that just makes sense. The safety goes beyond alcohol concerns, so signage, throwrings and ladders are a must on waterfront areas. This is the typical overreaction that will lead to more accidents in the future. If these changes were in place when the levee was first built, no one would even notice, and perhaps some lives may have been saved. Education defeats ignorance, try finding out what the proposal actually calls for. I don't want my kids anywhere near that levee, and without a gate at night it appears open and safe to be there. "

" i was a drunken college student back in the early 80's who used to like to go sit down on the levee and dangle my feet over the river and contemplate the dark swirling waters. i can tell you one thing, a fence is not going to keep a drunk out of anything. i climbed over many fences while drunk. and the chances of hurting one's self by falling from the fence probably equal the danger of falling into the river. and more signs? oh yeah, drunks are really known for their adherence to signs. maybe the bars should have lifejackets they could provide to drunk clients. oh wait, bars aren't supposed to serve people who are drunk. yeah right! making everyone pay for the actions of a few people seems like a silly way to respond to this. "

" This should be on another fine example of the narrow minded incompetent La Crosse city council and department heads listening to a few bleeding heart tree huggers. Don't get me wrong my sympathy goes out to the people and their families that have drown in the River but what has happened to the people being responsible for their own actions. If you go out and get falling down drunk and are dumb enough to act irresponsibly why should big brother attempt to protect you from yourself. Some of these ideas might be good but the Flotation rings won't do much good seeing the seven drownings it seems that they (the Alcohol Oversight Committee) are concerned about happened when these people were alone. When a drunk goes down to the river what is he going to think (I'm going to fall into the river so I had better grab a flotation ring before I fall in). The signs are also another good idea but I would like to know what they are going to say maybe something like "before falling into the river go back to the park entrance and read the sign that says the park closes at 11 PM", seeing that most of the drownings have happened at or around bar-time the signs that are presently in the park obviously don't do much good but maybe the new ones will. Gates are another good idea but why should we stopped at putting up a few gates at the levee which leaves the majority of the shoreline of Riverside Park unprotected, maybe we should put up about a ten foot barbed wire fence from one end of the park to the other, that would be extremely attractive. And let's not forget about the ladders, don't these people remember the recessed ladders that were in the old levee before it was rebuilt and how the larger boats and the ice flows tore up the levee because of ladders, not to mention how to ladders were destroyed by boaters tying there boats up on the ladder's. What is going to be the next suggestion? Maybe we should fill in the river so the water is not there for the drunks to fall in, or maybe we should spend some more tax dollars and hire more police to patrol the levee. I have a suggestion maybe these do-gooders should volunteer their time and set at the levee and patrol it themselves if they are so concerned about the safety of the responsible people instead of thinking up these half baked ideas that waste the taxpayers dollars. I'm sure our incompetent council will approve these idiotic suggestions as it seems that the policy La Crosse city government has is to take care of the squeaky wheel whether it is good for the community or not, maybe that is why they had to buy the $450.00 dollar chairs to sit in as not to damage their soft brains. Is it not time city government stands up to the special interest groups and tell them we are in financially hard times and that they are going to squander money but are going to responsibly allocate money to benefit the majority of the community. Not! "