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| 6/30/2010 5:04:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article | Booze still flows from to underage drinkers
Area businesses fail recent round of compliance checks
Mark Dudzik
EDITOR
Attempts to crack down on alcohol sales to underage people throughout Racine County still prove a daunting task - especially in Burlington - if recent results from compliance checks are any indication.
During the checks conducted through a coordinated effort between Focus on Community, the Racine County Youth Coalition and local law enforcement agencies, 15 out of 96 establishment's countywide sold alcoholic beverages to underage people who were recruited to help with the project.
The results of the checks performed this spring represent an increase of 4 percent from the prior round of checks performed in fall of 2009.
Clerks at several western Racine County businesses failed to ask for identification and sold to the underage people working with local law enforcement.
The most glaring failure rate occurred in the Burlington area, where clerks at five businesses were caught selling to minors.
Those businesses include Burlington Food and Fuel at 416 Milwaukee Ave., J&L Mobile at 500 E. State St., Beachview Grocery Store at 33225 S. Lakeshore Drive, Hansen's Pine Street Market at 501 S. Pine St., and Vista gas station at 364 Milwaukee Ave.
Of those establishments, four were repeat offenders - Vista gas station, J&L Mobile, Burlington Food & Fuel and Hansen's Pine Street Market were also caught selling to underage people during the previous compliance check in the fall of 2009.
In the case of Hansen's Pine Street Market, it was the third consecutive offense as the business also had a clerk caught selling to the minor working with authorities back in the fall of 2008.
Burlington businesses that were checked this spring but didn't sell to minors include the Walmart Supercenter, Aldi, Sentry, Marathon gas station, McHenry Street Depot, Goosberries, Rice's Liquor, Kmart, Pick 'n Save and Kwik Trip.
Three other businesses in western Racine County were caught with clerks selling to minors, including the Citgo gas station at 611 S. Sylvania Ave. in Yorkville, 7 Mile Station at 911 S. 27th St. in Raymond, B&B Beverages at 26220 W. Loomis Road in Wind Lake.
During the compliance checks, men and women ranging in age from 18 to 20 rode along with law enforcement and - under their supervision - entered each establishment and tried to procure alcohol.
In cases where alcohol was procured, it was turned over to officers.
Seth Kuranz, a coordinator with the Racine County Youth Coalition, said that while disappointed with the continued sale of alcohol to minors as indicated by the compliance check numbers, the increase of 4 percent represents around four additional stores selling alcohol to minors.
He also stressed that the 15 businesses caught selling to minors is only a fraction of the 96 businesses checked, which when broken down indicates that more than 84 percent of establishments checked were complying with the law.
In cases where alcohol was sold to underage people, law enforcement will typically cite the clerk working behind the counter as opposed to penalizing the business itself.
The operator of the business is made aware, Kuranz said, of the actions of the clerk in those cases.
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