[CH] off-topic: buying booze underage
LINDA L HUEGEL (huegel@email.unc.edu)
Tue, 5 Jun 2001 11:25:39 -0400 (EDT)
> Think about this situation for a moment. Two 19y olds are in your
> restaurant bar trying to buy drinks with obviously fake ID. What to
> do? Hand the ID back and explain that sorry but it is against the law
> to supply drinks to people under 21.
eh heh. Admittedly, I don't know Texas law. BUT. Having worked in the
restaraunt/bar industry in a college town in North Carolina, we lose our
liquor license if we hand back a fake ID. If we get inspected by ALE
officers (pretty much a monthly process with ALL the bars here in
town) and get caught serving underagers, they can close us down and
prosecute not only the bartenders but also the owners and the waitstaff
who served the drinks. So, up here, too, calling the cops with a
suspected fake ID is SOP.
For those who don't think this is a big deal... you're wrong. Losing a
liquor license can spell doom for a restaraunt in a college town. not to
mention the base for prosecution is usually around 10K per fake ID.
I think the media coverage of this situation is just stupid as ALL hell,
but not surprising - happens all the time down here, local
semi-celebrities' kids order a beer, think they can skate on it, get
nailed, and become a page two story. This is just the mother of all page
two stories, that's all.
Linda
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Linda Huegel
ICQ:7956349 AIM:SCAWench
Semi-professional Data Monkey
lhuegel@vnet.net huegel@email.unc.edu
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