After weeks of meaningless debate, Ald. Paul Skidmore's keg-registration bill was effectively euthanized as the Madison Police Department withdrew its support for the misguided legislation.

We applaud the MPD for recognizing the absurdity and futility of Mr. Skidmore's proposal.

The proposal, which would have required anyone purchasing a keg to provide a name and address for the site of keg consumption, was apparently intended to curb binge-drinking by providing comprehensive information to police to aid in party-busting efforts. As misguided as this reasoning was from the outset (the police have hardly struggled to find parties to break up without the legislation), there is now absolutely no reason to support the proposal after the MPD essentially turned down Mr. Skidmore's offer.

But the proposal did more than just give the police extra information about where to find a good time. It also limited house parties to two kegs — unless the host had the ingenuity to register with the city clerk, in which case he would be permitted to purchase any number of kegs without ever having to provide a reason for requesting such an exemption. Powerful legislation indeed.

With a proposal that would have offered police information they apparently aren't interested in and stopped kids from drinking by making them walk all the way to the clerk's office to have their keg request rubber-stamped (or perhaps just walk to the nearest liquor store and purchase cases of beer or bottles of liquor, both of which were not covered by Mr. Skidmore's proposal), it comes as no surprise that Mr. Skidmore is now being laughed at by any sensible policy-makers.

The fantasy that poorly reasoned legislation will keep students from drinking has finally been put to rest. Hopefully, we can now move on to more substantive and realistic issues.

So let's raise a toast to Mr. Skidmore — no documentation necessary.