NEWPORT, R.I. (AP) – It’s an annual rite of spring at colleges across the country. Seniors pile into buses for one final fling together, hopping from bar to bar celebrating graduation.

But when 21-year-old college student Francis J. Marx was killed in a bus accident outside a Newport bar in May, state lawmakers passed a statewide ban on so-called “pub crawls.”

The legislation left it to communities to enforce the ban. On Wednesday, the Newport City Council approved a ban in the first of two required votes, making the City by the Sea the first Rhode Island community to move toward prohibiting the bar-hopping events.

Businesses with liquor licenses that participate in organized bar crawls would face fines of up to $1,000 and 30 days in jail, said Jeanne-Marie Napolitano, a council member who proposed the ordinance.

She said the Newport’s abundance of bars makes it appealing to college students, and local officials want to rein in binge drinking.

Police believe Marx and others were involved in a confrontation with University of Rhode Island students participating in a pub crawl. Marx, a Fairfield University senior, either fell or was pushed to the ground, where he was fatally struck by a bus.

Hundreds of URI seniors had gone to Newport that night for a pre-graduation bar tour. Officials had spoken out against the event, which was not sanctioned by the university.

Legislators, city and town officials, and local colleges are hoping that the state ban will discourage irresponsible drinking and prevent potentially dangerous situations. Under the law, parties with more than 50 people are prohibited from moving from bar to bar with the purpose of consuming alcohol.

Marx’s uncle, John McGinty of Pennsylvania, said the family is grateful for the new legislation.

“Probably, had (the pub crawl) not been allowed to happen, we wouldn’t have lost our nephew,” he said.

But McGinty thinks the bar crawl ban is just one piece of the picture.

“This is only the tip of the iceberg,” he said. “The bar crawl really is just an example of the American attitude toward drinking, that it’s party time and everything and anything is OK.”

At URI, educators and administrators say the pub crawl ban could help the school in its efforts to control binge drinking.

“There’s no single law or single thing that we can do that can eradicate college drinking … but it’s certainly a good thing and we support it,” said Mark Wood, associate professor of psychology and co-director of the university’s Alcohol Health Promotion Partnership Team.

In Newport, Mayor Richard Sardella said he’ll “notify every college, university, junior college within a two to two-and-a-half hour radius of Newport” of the ban.

State Rep. Paul Crowley, a restaurant owner who introduced the legislation, said he hopes the law helps “prevent the environment that was a contributing factor” in Marx’s death.

“You can’t legislate absolute responsible behavior, but you can certainly eliminate contributing factors,” said Crowley, D-Newport.

Debbie Krugman, a manager at O’Brien’s Pub on Thames Street in Newport said the bar has enough business without pub crawls, and she does not like the rowdy, unruly crowds they bring.

But a neighboring bar owner says a total ban is unfair and tough to enforce.

Mike Cheney, owner of The West Deck Restaurant on Newport’s waterfront, said his establishment has never allowed pub crawls, but they should not be illegal.

It should be up to bar owners to determine if a group is legally intoxicated or will cause problems, Cheney said.

One pub crawl event planner said he thinks his business has gotten a bad rap since Marx’s death.

Jaymes Dec of New York, chief operating officer of cityhunt.org, which organizes pub crawls and scavenger hunts in the Northeast, said his events are about more than drinking.

Dec, 26, who attended Portsmouth Abbey High School in Portsmouth, said his events provide “intellectual stimulation” and a social atmosphere.

He called Marx’s death a tragedy, but said he is confident groups will continue to use his service.

And Cheney, the Newport bar owner, also thinks the crawls will continue, though less overtly. He said he wonders how a ban can be enforced.

“What’s the cutoff point?” he asked. “What constitutes a pub crawl?”

AP-ES-07-29-04 1713EDT