As harsh as that may sound, that's what a Missoula police compliance test revealed last weekend.
On Friday, two plainclothes police officers accompanied a 19-year-old male to 16 bars and stores between 5:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. Then on Saturday, they accompanied a 20-year-old man to 16 different locations between 6:30 p.m. and 11 p.m.
On Saturday, six of the 16 sold alcohol to the 20-year-old, and five of the six establishments that violated the law did so after carding him. It is illegal for people under 21 to drink or buy alcohol.
The results were not what police hoped to see.
“We see this as a failure. We would like to see complete compliance and not have this be an issue,” Paul said. “There was a good selection of bars and stores selling here, and we consider it a big issue when somebody is only 19 years old can go into 10 out of 16 places in Missoula and purchase alcohol.
“That is a definite concern.”
Citations were handed out to employees who sold the minors alcohol, and those employees worked at the following Missoula businesses: Grizzly Grocery, Golden Rose Casino, the PS Mini Mart, The Rhino, Ole's on North Orange, Stockman's Bar, The Badlander, Kum & Go on Toole Street, Silver Dollar Bar and Noon's Sinclair, Fast Trip, Outback Steakhouse, Jokers Wild, Gilly's Gas, Silver Creek Casino and Deano's.
Some of the businesses have been cited for the same violations in the past three years and now have multiple offenses, which the Montana Department of Revenue's liquor control division will review and determine the fine and other consequences.
The Missoula reports haven't yet been reviewed by state compliance officers, said Lisa Scates, education specialist for the state liquor control division.
But generally speaking, fines are handed out to the business and the employee who made the transactions. Fines vary depending on the establishment's history.
Typically, the business license holder is fined $250 for a first-time violation. If more fines occur within three years, they are as follows: $1,000 for a second violation, $1,500 and possible 20 days' business suspension for a third time, and the business license may be revoked if there is a fourth offense.
The employee, bartender or cocktail waitress who served the alcohol could be fined between $300 and $600, and may serve jail time, Scates said.
“One of the big things for us in relation to the servers is that we view them as the first line of defense in curbing underage drinking and trying to limit access to alcohol for underage drinkers,” Scates said. “They have an obligation to the well-being of the community and for their own personal effect they have personal risk and liability.”
Servers must be keenly tuned in to underage drinkers and also must be aware of a person's level of sobriety.
“A lot of servers are unaware that it is illegal to sell to someone who is already intoxicated,” Scates said. “A lot of them don't comprehend that it's against the law.”
Despite the disappointing outcome of last week's compliance test, there is good news when it comes to issues surrounding alcohol intoxication, said Lonnie Hutchinson, coordinator of the Missoula County DUI Task Force and statewide DUI task force facilitator.
In 1981, 20.4 percent of the crashes that happened in Missoula County involved alcohol; in 2006, that number had shrunk to 10.2 percent.
“For the past couple of decades, we have seen a 50-percent decline in alcohol-related crashes,” she said. “That's not just in Missoula County, but also in the state of Montana.”
The welcome downturn is due to a variety of factors, and all of it is connected to increased education regarding drinking and driving.
“The national organization Mothers Against Drunk Driving can definitely take a bow. They were the front-runners of this,” Hutchinson said.
Locally, Missoula businesses can be credited with supporting Home Free Missoula, which gives free taxi rides home to bar patrons. On a larger scale, the state DUI task force has worked hard to bring education and training to Montana communities.
One of the services provided, the alcohol server training program, is an intense three-hour course that teaches the finer points of Montana's alcohol laws.
“The program is for bartenders, bouncers, managers, owners, servers, what have you,” Hutchinson said. “We are concerned not only about minors, but we are extremely concerned about obvious intoxicated patrons that leave drinking establishments and get into their cars, and possibly a wreck.
“In this town, as long as you can slide your money across the bar you get served, and that's illegal if you are a minor or show obvious signs of intoxication.”
Reporter Betsy Cohen can be reached at 523-5253 or at bcohen@missoulian.com.
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