Drinking

You don't need to golf with the boss to get a raise. Just share a beer. Two economists argue in a study to be released today that social drinkers tend to have more charisma, a fatter Rolodex and more friends than those who abstain or drink alone. That garrulousness, they say, translates into higher income -- 10% more for men and 14% more for women.

So, Gordon House intends to prove that "Hey, this situation could have happened to anybody" ("Power of Grief," Dec. 16). I know many people, myself included, who would never drink and drive. When the attitude that drinking and driving "happen" is no longer accepted by society, the law will require people to take responsibility for their actions and, perhaps, these people will be convicted of their true crime: murder. GINA BERNBAUM Encino

The City Council approved another change to its public-drinking ordinance this week, after rescinding a more restrictive version and hearing from angry residents quoting from the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. "I neither drink nor do I smoke, but I deeply believe in personal liberty and the rights of our citizens," resident Jerry Jones told the council Monday night.

High school officials in Huntington Beach who protested greeting cards linking drinking and graduation are irate and embarrassed over a similar display in their school's yearbook. A full-page photo spread in Edison High School's yearbook, the Oracle, shows students with beer bottles and wine coolers, and was paid for by students. It appeared less than a week after Edison administrators joined in a protest of two Hallmark cards, which the company later said it would discontinue.

Administrators at what Playboy magazine once labeled the nation's top party college are considering policies aimed at reducing students' alcohol intake. If the new policies take effect at 16,000-student Cal State Chico this fall, there no longer will be beer company-sponsored keg rolls for charity, advertisements for alcohol in the student newspaper or drinking mugs in the bookstore.

The Tiger's Milk Tantra 3705 Sunset Blvd., Silver Lake; (323) 663-8268, $8 A milkshake-like drink that's got claws. It mixes Licor 43 (an obscure but delicious Spanish liquor that has both vanilla and orange flavors) with amaretto, Frangelico and milk. Shaken and then poured on the rocks, and garnished with a cherry, it's foamy and white, with a creamy, nutty flavor. It could easily replace dessert.

A ship's captain was convicted at a bench trial in Norfolk of operating a commercial vessel while drunk and banished from U.S. waters for one year. U.S. Magistrate James E. Bradberry also fined Janos Gyori, 52, $3,000 for the Jan. 11 incident in which the 214-foot freighter General Lee was denied entry to the Port of Hampton Roads. A Coast Guard crew conducting a security check found the captain intoxicated.

A man who apparently had been drinking went out for a bicycle ride Monday, veered across several lanes of traffic and slammed into the side of a limousine, suffered serious head injuries, police said. The man was listed in critical condition at UCI Medical Center in Orange, a hospital spokeswoman said. Sgt. Ron Harryman said the bicyclist has not been identified.

DRINKING a moderate amount of alcohol -- say, a couple of beers -- might not seem like a lot, but it can make people oblivious to seeing certain things. Even a gorilla. In a recent study, researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle gave 23 people enough alcohol to reach a blood alcohol level of 0.04% (half the legal limit in many states and about 2 1/2 beers for a 180-pound man). A second group of 23 people drank no alcohol.

Before unification, East Germans were among Europe's heaviest drinkers. But Hungarians and Poles were close behind.(Annual alcohol consumption, in liters of pure alcohol per capita, 1989) Germany (East): 5.2 Hungary: 4.8 Poland: 4.5 Czechoslovakia: 3.36 Finland: 3.15 Spain: 2.8 France: 2.4 Germany (West): 2.05 Sweden: 1.84 Britain: 1.75 Japan: 2.3 United States: 2.4 Source: World Drink Trends, 1991 Edition