Combing the county

LAKE COUNTY - It's Friday afternoon, around 5 p.m. An 18-year-old, we'll call him "Bob," walks into a bar, orders a beer and sits down. Not knowing the kid, the bartender asks for his identification. The high school senior reaches into his pocket and pulls out his real ID. After a quick perusal, the bartender opens a bottle of Bud, sets it on the counter and says "$2.50 please."

Out of the bar walks the youth and in walks Montana Highway Patrolman Jim Sanderson. Sanderson isn't here to bust the underage patron but rather to give a ticket to the bar employee, who has failed an alcohol sale compliance check.

In fact, Bob is working with Trooper Sanderson, attempting to buy beer, using his real age and Montana-issued driver's license. The two are part of an Alcohol Enforcement Team that includes approximately 20 law enforcement officials from throughout the county who work with the Montana Community Change Project to find out if Lake County businesses are abiding by the 21-year-old state mandated drinking age.

"It's all about ensuring compliance with liquor laws," MCCP project manager Ivy McGowan said. "What would make us very happy is if everybody passed."

Unfortunately, everybody isn't passing, despite the MCCP's every attempt to be as transparent as possible. Notices of upcoming checks, using kids that are really 17- or 18-years-old, equipped with a real ID, are just some of the ways the group has tried to honestly present themselves. It might not be working: Of the four businesses that failed Aug. 27, three had a previous failure from a June compliance check.

"It was very disappointing," McGowan said. "We all strive for zero failures."

And everyone who failed did look at the underage patrons identification, yet served the minor alcohol, regardless of his or her 1992 date of birth. In fact, one employee at a business in Arlee punched in Bob's birth date, but when denied, proceeded to enter her own date of birth. The move allowed her to bypass the computer system set up to prevent employees from selling to underage patrons.

"It's indicative of the culture and attitude towards alcohol in the state," McGowan said of such a blatant attempt to sell alcohol to a minor.

The employee proceeded to sell Bob the $1.89 can of Bud Light before Sanderson came in and gave her a ticket many times the price of the beer. Not only is the employee fined, but so is the business owner.

"It goes a long way towards changing attitudes about alcohol consumption," Sanderson said of the checks. "We've always had a high rate of underage drinking in Montana, especially in this area, and now we are doing something proactive about it."

Part of being proactive in preventing future failures has been the MCCP's policy of offering a free Responsible Alcohol Sales and Service (RASS) class to any interested businesses. McGowan said about 65 percent of Lake County's 92 businesses with liquor licenses have taken the training and the class is even offered on-site so employees and the owners can be trained all at once in their business. The free, easy training is a great alternative to what can amount to up to a $500 fine and six months in jail, McGowan said. Even worse, four failures of a compliance check can result in a business losing their liquor license for good. With compliance checks scheduled every six to eight weeks, McGowan hopes that businesses will understand that it isn't good enough to pass just once and that better business practices are in order.

But signs are pointing up, and it seems Lake County businesses overall are getting the message that serving underage patrons can have serious consequences.

"At the same time, four out of 17 isn't bad," McGowan said of the four failures out of 17 businesses checked Friday evening. "It shows that liquor establishments are taking their responsibility seriously."