HERE WE GO AGAIN. The semester has started, the students are back, party football season is about to start, and the City of DeKalb would once again like to tame happy hours in the public interest. But one tavern manager has given the game away.

Jeff Dobie, owner of Fatty's Pub and Grille, 1312 W. Lincoln Highway, said if the legislation is approved he will raise the prices. Dobie said he is not in favor of the government being in charge of the prices, but this is a welcome adjustment.

"We will raise the prices," Dobie said. "I don't have a problem with that. Bar owners are lowering their prices just to get people in the door."

Dobie also said he would rather see patrons going to a bar because of its atmosphere, not because the prices are cheap.

Compare and contrast prices and amenities on airlines before and after 1979. Discuss potential parallels to competition among licensed taverns in communities with and without bans on happy hours. Provide a theoretical framework. Extra credit for generalizing to repeated competition.

The City Council debate has material for further research.

7th Ward Alderman James Barr is unsure of regulating liquor prices in the city government.

"I'm strongly personally torn over this (the proposed legislation)," said Barr.

Barr asked City Attorney Norma Guess if other similar communities had minimum liquor prices.

Champaign, Macomb and Normal do not have similar legislation, but added those communities do not have the price wars like DeKalb, Guess said.

Ben Gordon Rehabilitation Center employee Kris Povlsen advocated the increase. "Human behavior says the cheaper the product the more it is going to be consumed," said 2nd Ward Alderman Povlsen. "I support the mayor's position because I understand the nature of alcohol."

Have the city councils in other Illinois cities with major universities done a better job of restricting output via fewer liquor licenses?