Free Alcohol

WORCESTER--The drinks were on the house last month at Assumption College as students recited tongue-twisters, walked a white line and caught tennis balls to demonstrate the effects of too much alcohol.

The experiment was "a way of teaching students about alcoholic consumption without preaching at them." Brother Robert Francis Beaulac, director of the Roman Catholic college's infirmary, said.

Nearly 80 people jammed the college's pub Wednesday night to watch 14 college juniors drink and be tested.

The students were divided into two groups Halt consulted one drink an hour, or about as much as a normal person can have and remain fairly sober. The rest drank as much as they wanted.

Every hour, the drinkers were tested by State Police Capt. William W. Mann, who measured the alcohol level in their blood.

The drinkers also completed six other tests hourly: walking a white line with their hands held at shoulder level, reading tongue twisters over a public-address system, catching a tennis ball on cue, remembering a four-digit number and reciting it backwards, testing handwriting by writing "Without a doubt I can definitely drink and drive" and making a trip through a computer-game simulation of night driving.