After learning that alcohol sales would be very limited at Arkansas State University, the ASU Board of Trustees approved a lease agreement with the NEA Sports Club. ASU System President Dr. Charles Welch told board members during a Friday morning conference call that NEA Sports Club would dispense alcohol only to its members during certain events on campus. For example, members could drink alcohol while in the press box at Centennial Bank Stadium or at concert events at the Convocation Center. Alcohol would not be allowed during sporting events at the Convocation center, and the lease agreement also tells where alcohol could be and could not be served. Alcohol sales would not be for the general public and extra security measures would be in place at times when alcohol would be present. The agreement allows the NEA Sports Club to submit an application with the state’s Alcohol Beverage Control board. If approved by the state, a separate agreement between the University and the NEA Sports Club would be drafted which would spell out where alcohol could be and could not be served. That agreement would be for ten years, but could be terminated with or without cause, with 90 days’ notice. The lease agreement passed overwhelmingly by the ASU Board of Trustees.
Johnathan Reaves is the News Director for KASU Public Radio. As part of an Air Force Family, he moved to Arkansas from Minot, North Dakota in 1986. He was first bitten by the radio bug after he graduated from Gosnell High School in 1992. While working on his undergraduate degree, he worked at KOSE, a small 1,000 watt AM commercial station in Osceola, Arkansas. Upon graduation from Arkansas State University in 1996 with a degree in Radio-Television Broadcast News, he decided that he wanted to stay in radio news. He moved to Stuttgart, Arkansas and worked for East Arkansas Broadcasters as news director and was there for 16 years.