Cronin's, Other Bars Feel ABC's Squeeze on Age

Square liquor establishments face crack-downs from agents of the Alcoholic Beverage Commission, the CRIMSON learned last night. Since Saturday, many of them have been checking the age of patrons under pressure from the ABC.

Hardest hit by the crack-down has been Cronin's. After a minor broke the front window Saturday night, ABC officials closed the front bar and began ordering all minors from the premises. Since then Cronin's has kept a careful check of all persons requesting liquor.

Jim Cronin maintained yesterday that "nothing unusual happened in my place over the weekend. I won't say we're infallible in not selling liquor to minors, but it's rare if we do." But Cronin did say that "from now on, there will be a policeman around to watch out for disturbances on nights of big weekends. They are merely serving to keep order and not checking on the ages of persons drinking liquor."

An official at Club 100 said "the whole affair was merely a periodic check." A general tightening, however, in the serving of minors has taken place throughout the Square since Saturday.

Just what will come of the crack-down is still uncertain. The ABC refused to comment other than to say that as yet no reports on the investigation have been received.

"One of the quietest weekends in a long time" was the only comment Chief Randall would make. For the first time this fall, no student's bursar's cards were collected by University police. Randall felt that Dean Bender's get-tough letter in Thursday's CRIMSON had a lot to do with stopping excess student enthusiasm.

In the only attempt at a riot, 800 people gathered outside Cronin's about mid-night Friday, but the crowd was dispersed with a minimum of action