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Sunday, October 25, 2009

Ind. Law - More on "Direct wine sale ban not about minors"

On Oct. 17 the ILB quoted from Dan and Krista Stockman's weekly "Uncorked" column in the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, which in turn quoted from this Oct. 11th story in the Journal Gazette, reported by Niki Kelly, headed "State: 35% of retailers sold alcohol to minors: Excise police program uses youths ages 18 to 20."

Uncorked summarized the point of its long column:

When you hear lawmakers, wholesalers and lobbyists talk about shipping wine directly to consumers, all they’ll want to talk about is how important it is to keep alcohol out of the hands of minors.

On that single point, they are correct: It is important to keep alcohol out of the hands of minors. It’s something we take seriously enough that people who are not yet 21 cannot even see the Uncorked page on Facebook, though, of course, there’s no way to score wine there.

But in the debate over direct shipment of wine, it is also the largest red herring you’ll ever see.

Today, Bill Ruthhart of the Indianapolis Star also reports on the State Excise Police sting operation in a lengthy story. A quote:
Two of the Marion County citations have been issued to Village Liquors stores.

On Oct. 17, an Excise Police sting caught Village Liquors at 3612 W. 30th St. selling to a minor.

Ryan Cobb, the manager of that store, said he and the owner had heard the Excise Police were running stings from other liquor store owners and called the clerk on duty to stress that he card every customer.

Minutes later, a woman who is a regular customer came in with her daughter, Cobb said. She bought a case of 24-ounce Budweiser cans, and her daughter bought a single 24-ounce can.

Four hours later, Excise Police returned to the store to inform Cobb that his employee had sold to a minor.

"Our policy is if they look under 30 or if you suspect they even possibly could be underage, then card them," Cobb said. "I went back and watched the surveillance tape, and the daughter didn't look under 30, but I guess she was. Turns out she was 19."

Cobb said the mother returned to the store a few days later and said the Excise Police had recruited her and her daughter a week before in the store's parking lot.

However, Jennifer Fults, a public affairs officer with the Excise Police, said excise officers work only with underage youths contracted though the Indiana Prevention Resource Center, which hires the workers. Fults said they do not recruit decoys on site at a retailer.

The violation was the second of the year for the store, so it was fined $2,500 and will have to close for three to seven days.

"It was a big setup. These guys don't have anything better to do than to come in here and get people caught up so they can get a bigger paycheck?" Cobb said. "The sign on our door says clearly no one under the age of 21 should come in, and for a law enforcement officer to bring somebody in who is under 21 to set somebody up is ridiculous."

McMahan, the officer in charge of the Central Indiana district, said managers such as Cobb have no excuse.

"They all received notifications about the program before it started," he said. "The word is getting around, so they know about it, but they're still surprised when they're the one that gets caught."

Posted by Marcia Oddi on October 25, 2009 09:09 AM
Posted to Indiana Law