The flow of hard liquor in Athens city has risen at a higher rate from 2006 to 2007 than almost every Ohio public college town, as retail sales increased by about 7 percent from last year, records show.

Retail bottle sales of spirituous liquor — hard liquor containing more than 21 percent alcohol by volume sold at contracted stores — were up 6.8 percent in Athens city from 2006 to 2007. In Ohio towns with public universities, this increase is topped by the 8.26 percent in Youngstown, home to Youngstown State University and an additional state liquor store in 2007. Fairborn, home to Wright State University, also had a slightly higher sales increase than Athens with 7.1 percent, according to an Ohio Division of Liquor Control report.

Because sales numbers do not account for the permanent residential population of these cities or legal-aged populations, they are not true representations of student alcohol usage, said Matt Mullins, public information officer for the Ohio Division of Liquor Control.

Athens has a total population of about 23,000, with about 6,000 permanent residents not enrolled at Ohio University, said Paula Horan Moseley, city service-safety director.

Fairborn has about 10,000 more residents, while Youngstown’s population is about 60,000 people more than Athens, according to results from the U.S. Census Bureau. Both cities’ median per capita income is greater as well —about $18,600 in Fairborn and $13,300 in Youngstown, compared to about $11,000 in Athens, according to the bureau.

Ohio University’s enrollment is about 20,600, whereas Wright State has about 16,200 students and Youngstown State’s enrollment is about 13,300, according to the Ohio Board of Regents Performance Reports. A student’s college residence is included in a town’s population estimate, said Robert Bernstein, public affairs specialist for the Census Bureau.

Alcohol-related referrals for students at OU have fallen during the last three fall quarters, said Jim Sand, OU director of University Judiciaries.

This is partly because of OU’s increased focus on underage offenses, he said. If it is their first offense, students caught drinking underage receive six months to a year of probation, pay $100 fine and must attend a educational course. “It’s interesting that the school has a party atmosphere we’re trying to crack down on and (liquor sales) are still increasing,” said freshman Sarah Kelly.

Mullins declined to speculate on why Athens’ sales rate is relatively high compared to statewide figures, but said the increase in dollars is justifiable.

“The main reason for the rise in dollars is price going up,” Mullins said.

The more than $2.5 million in retail sales of spirituous liquor between Athens County’s two authorized stores, Athens’ Lucky Dog Carry Out and Drive Thru and Nelsonville Pit-Stop Drive Thru and Carry-Out, reflects an increase of nearly $200,000 from 2006 to 2007, according to the report.

Countywide, bottles of hard liquor sold increased by 6.2 percent last year, compared to a 2 percent increase from 2005 to 2006, according to the Ohio Division of Liquor Control’s report. Statewide retail bottle sales rose 4.8 percent from 2006 to about 30 million bottles and $449 million in 2007, according to the report.

Overall, more people appear to be staying home to drink instead of visiting area bars in the last few years, said Nelsonville Pit Stop owner Gary Edwards.

“It’s obviously cheaper if you’re just drinking at home,” he said.

The Pub manager Tom Vandyke said that both liquor sales and customers in bars have stayed mostly consistent over the past few years.

“What we have noticed is that people come out to the bar a little later than before,” he said.

Lucky Dog Drive Thru owner Mark Meredith declined to comment for this story.

Total spirituous retail liquor sold between the two Athens County state liquor stores has risen to about 160,000 bottles in 2007, an increase of about 34,000 since 2003, according to the report.

Many students were surprised that Kamchatka vodka, which costs $6.95 for a fifth at Lucky Dog, was the state’s most-purchased brand. Junior Mikey Lewis said he prefers higher-end liquor when he can afford it.

“It’s important to find a happy medium between cost, taste and percent alcohol,” he said.

Although stores such as Wal-Mart and Kroger can sell beer, wine and low-proof liquor, they hold retail permits and therefore are not permitted to sell hard liquor, Mullins said.

“Given the type of drinking people do here, they usually want to get messed up for less,” said senior Josh Browning.

Ohioans consumed about 270 million gallons of beer in 2005 — the last year these statistics were kept — along with approximately 16 million gallons of wine and about 9.7 million gallons of liquor, according to a report from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.