SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Gov. Gary Herbert says there’s no evidence that children are any more likely to drink alcohol if they see alcoholic drinks being prepared in restaurants.
Utah requires that some restaurants mix and pour alcoholic drinks behind a barrier, with proponents contending that it helps curb underage drinking by shielding minors from the “culture of alcohol.”
Herbert told reporters Thursday that that is just a hunch not based on any scientific data.
Lawmakers are considering a bill allowing restaurants to remove the barriers if they instead set up some kind of child-free buffer zone around bars.
The Republican governor supports that effort because it gives restaurants flexibility and also calls for more prevention education about underage drinking and alcohol abuse.
Herbert says he thinks Utah’s barriers, nicknamed “Zion Curtains,” will eventually be gone altogether.