Check Finds Local Retailer Selling to Minor
On Friday night, March 18 Oneida police Corporal Gerry “Greasey” Garrett conducted compliance checks at five convenience stores within the Oneida city limits.
A seventeen year old, outfitted with a transceiver allowing Garrett to monitor the conversations between purchaser and store clerks, was able
to purchase a twelve-pack of beer from one of the locations. “I really can’t believe [the clerk] sold it,” said Corporal Garrett after the incident.
“The purchaser looks closer to fifteen than twenty-one.”
The compliance checks are part of an ongoing campaign to eliminate retail access to alcohol by underage drinkers. An initial purchase survey was performed in August, 2008 by STAND employees using young-looking twenty-one year olds. The results revealed that approximately half of all Scott County retailers failed to ask for age verification for alcohol sales. “I think one of the things we noticed right away was that there was no real consequence to the owner if one of the employees sold to minors,” said Dale Owens, STAND Coordinator. “The clerk would get cited and that would pretty much be the end of it. What we needed was a policy change that would incentivize the owner to ensure that the employees were being responsible.” That policy change came in July of last year when the Oneida Beer Board unanimously passed an updated policy. That change, coupled with law enforcement led compliance checks like the one performed Friday night, has brought the failure rate of convenience stores down to under 10%.
The expanded Oneida policy closely follows the “Responsible Vendor Act” passed by the Tennessee General Assembly which went into effect on July 1, 2007. Quoting from the act also known as T.C.A. §57-5-601:
This Act allows off-premise beer permittees to voluntarily participate in training of their employees on the responsible sale of alcoholic beverages.
By complying with this Act, these participants would receive certain beneficial treatment when faced with a first offense related to the sale of alcoholic
beverages to a minor.
The policy adopted by the five-member Oneida Beer Board assesses a fine not to exceed $2,500 if that location is not designated as a “responsible vendor”. The fine assessed is limited to no more than $1,000 if the employees have been certified as responsible beverage servers by the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC). The board’s policy further stipulates that a first time offense may have the fine waived if the employees become certified as "Responsible Beverage Servers" within 90 days of the illegal sale.
Schools Together Allowing No Drugs has limited funding through a Partnership for Success grant to provide RBS training at no cost to local employees. This grant funding officially ends on June 30th of this year. In order to fully implement the policy, STAND worked closely with the Oneida Police Department, providing results from current purchase surveys and tracking establishments that have trained their staff in Responsible Beverage Server training. When asked about the relationship between STAND and local law enforcement agencies, Trent Coffey had this to say, “Community partners are the key to success, especially in a small community where drug and alcohol abuse is prevalent. Through the partnership with the Oneida Police Department we are making a difference in the underage drinking problem. I want to personally thank Chief Laxton and his department for their continued support and always being accessible to the coalition in its efforts to make Scott County a better community.”
