FWIW - according to the NPR report I heard on this incident, it was not in fact a fake ID, but a real one which did not belong to, or correctly identify, the young lady in question. Leaving aside the eminently understandable desire to disclaim kinship with George II, I don't know if that would have any bearing on the matter from a legal standpoint. Just my $0.02, Jonathan ------Original Message------ From: LINDA L HUEGEL <huegel@email.unc.edu> To: chile-heads@globalgarden.com Sent: June 5, 2001 3:25:39 PM GMT Subject: [CH] off-topic: buying booze underage > 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 ____________________________________________________________________________ Linda Huegel ICQ:7956349 AIM:SCAWench Semi-professional Data Monkey lhuegel@vnet.net huegel@email.unc.edu ____________________________________________________________________________