Tailgating ban set for younger acts BY ERIN O. STATTEL Staff Writer HOLMDEL- Consumption of alcohol while tailgating at the PNC Bank Arts Center will be limited to older crowds during this summer's concert series. Joe Orlando, a spokesman for the New Jersey Turnpike Authority, said that the Turnpike Authority had to take an additional step after last summer's Gwen Stefani concert. Last summer's concert season culminated with the deaths of two concertgoers and 490 arrests for underage drinking. As a result, a ban on consumption of alcoholic beverages while tailgating was put into effect. The new ban will not allow tailgating at events that attract younger concertgoers. "Unfortunately, the behaviors were legendary in the course of the arts center at that concert," Orlando said. "It got so much attention with young kids going to the hospital with alcohol poisoning that something had to be done." Orlando also said that arrests were not the main goal, but that, "We need to make this behavior stop." "For this summer, some of the clearly youth-oriented music concerts should require a total ban on tailgating," said Assemblywoman Amy Handlin (R-13). "Really the climax of last season was ultimately the tragedy of death," Handlin added. "And we don't want that to happen again." Police Chief RaymondWilson said that the problems at the center are not a matter for the Holmdel Police Department. "The state police will be enforcing this," Wilson said. "I don't see it affecting us any more than any other year." As for the presence of drivers under the influence on the roads in Holmdel surrounding the arts center, he said that many people do not travel those roads when going to or coming from a concert. "Most people going to and from that venue use the Garden State Parkway," he said. "I really don't see people drinking at home and then coming through Holmdel to get to PNC."