Eau Claire’s drinking ranked second in the nation’s “drunkest cities”

Chad+Hoyord%2C+Deputy+Chief+of+Patrol+Division%2C++was+compelled+to+find+ways+to+reduce+the+risks+of+Eau+Claire%E2%80%99s+excessive+drinking+culture.+%C2%A9+2018+Kinsey+Johnson+

Chad Hoyord, Deputy Chief of Patrol Division, was compelled to find ways to reduce the risks of Eau Claire’s excessive drinking culture. © 2018 Kinsey Johnson

December 13, 2018

By Kinsey Johnson

It was a chilly night in January of 2017 when 19-year-old Robert Tarver woke up on a stretcher headed inside an Eau Claire hospital.

“I just remember being so terribly cold because of the ice water… because I was basically dying of alcohol poisoning,” Tarver recalls.

Earlier this year a recent study named Eau Claire, Wisconsin America’s “Second Drunkest City.” According to the study, Tarver is among 26.2% of adults who drink to excess with sometimes dangerous results. Some of the consequences that can result from excessive drinking include alcohol poisoning, short and long-term health risks and alcohol-related vehicle accidents. Because of these consequences, members of the Eau Claire community are taking steps to change the city’s drinking culture with a new city ordinance.