It was a good party, Chay thought as he was going home.

He tried to remember how much he had drunk that night, but it didn't matter, he thought, he was going home and it would all be over soon.

Chay was feeling horrible from the amount of liquor he had consumed. Before long he had to pull the side of the road.

"Where the hell am I?" Chay nervously asked himself, realizing he didn't recognize his surroundings. He had driven drunk and was lost. He closed his eyes and passed out, hoping he would wake up from a bad dream.

This was not a dream. Chayene P. Albuquerque, exercise and sport sciences junior, lived through this experience.

"I puked my guts out. I thought I was going to die," Albuquerque recalls.

After alcohol sickness occurs, most people say, "I'm never going to drink again," undeclared sophomore Scott D. Resnick says.

Molly F. McCabe, psychology sophomore, and Dov M. Herbstman, undeclared sophomore, both say they have dealt with the horrible feeling after drinking too much.

McCabe says that she was sick for about three hours after a party, while Herbstman says he passed out in the restroom of a friend's party.

Marketing sophomore Katherine J. Briones says she once had a tequila shot contest with a male friend in which she consumed at least eight shots, in addition to drinking beer, all in a half-hour period. This resulted in Briones being sick all night.

Koreen Johannessen, director of health promotions and preventive services at the UA, says a lot of students drink because they believe they are expected to.

When students sit down and talk about it, they often find that drinking is not as fun as they think it is, Johannessen says.

"I believe that it is the weather and the geography," says Jill H. Fowler, fine arts senior. "It's sort of a Wild West cowboy image. People get drunk, then they get wild," Fowler says.

A dangerous combination

When there is drinking, all too often there is driving as well. This is just one of the many serious issues involved with alcohol abuse.

"Yes, I have driven drunk, but I don't recommend it," Albuquerque says.

One of the times that Albuquerque drove drunk, he says, he had no choice because he was driving a vehicle with a standard transmission and no else knew how to drive his car. He knows now that he did not use good judgment.

In 1995, reports of driving under the influence of alcohol rose from 103 in 1994 to 162, a 57 percent increase, according to the UA police departments statistics of criminal activity.

Liquor violations jumped from 262 in 1994 to 344, a 31 percent increase.

It is not that DUIs are increasing, but that more violators are being caught, Acting Lt. Brian A. Seastone of UAPD says.

Officers more aggressively pursuing violators is the main reason for the increase, Seastone says.

Seastone says that 70 percent of those cited for liquor violations are non-UA students.

Some students do try to act responsibly when they drink.

Fowler says she does not drink at all if she is driving and adds that she will not get into a vehicle with someone who has been drinking.

"This has led to many arguments. If my friends refuse to let me drive I would call a cab," Fowler says.

Albuquerque says at some parties, his friends will take all the vehicle keys, put them in a bag and hide them. This forces those who are drunk to wait until they sober up before they can drive home.

For those who must go home the same night, they have a truck that they fill with as many people as possible and have a sober driver take them home, he says.

Briones says that she has driven drunk before, but she is more responsible now. If she starts to drink, the driving responsibility goes to someone else, she says.

Fowler says, "It is the students that are irresponsible. They have a few drinks and think they are still in control and try to drive."

Bars near campus have tried to reduce the number of drunken drivers and other alcohol-related problems.

O'Malleys on Fourth, 247 N. Fourth Ave., will not allow any people who are already drunk into its establishment, manager Michael D. Homier says.

Club 151, 95 N. Park, will call a cab for drunken drivers. On occasion, it has provided the fare, owner Carl P. Dene says.

"Nine out ten times a friend will pay for the cab or will take the person home. Students are pretty responsible," Dene says. One positive aspect is that students who live on or near campus usually do not drive to bars or parties, McCabe says.

Alcohol and assault

Another danger that students face is that alcohol abuse can also lead to serious offences, like sexual and aggravated assault.

In reported UA sexual assaults, all occurred as a date rape in which one or both of the parties were abusing alcohol, Seastone says.

Seastone says that alcohol abuse many times leads to aggressive behavior.

"Most disorderly conduct reports and assaults are alcohol related." he says.

Johannessen says that sexual offenses are low on campus, but they do occur. "One occurrence is enough. This is a real concern," she says.

Women have to remember that because their tolerance for alcohol is usually lower, they risk becoming intoxicated and losing control more quickly, Johannessen says.

"Women should definitely know their alcohol limit," she says.

Fowler talks about when two of her friends came to visit and got drunk at a party they attended. At different times during the night the two girls did everything, except have sexual intercourse, with the same guy. One of them did the same with three separate guys that night.

"The alcohol played a huge factor in their actions that night," Fowler says.