BOARDMAN Agent teaches liquor lessons

Unacceptable identification documents include military cards and passports.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
BOARDMAN -- There are many do's and don'ts when it comes to selling adult beverages.
"Let's talk happy hour, and let's make it simple: At 9 p.m., happy hour is done," Rita Raimer told her audience Thursday at the Boardman Government Center. "At 9, everything has to be back to regular price."
She said happy hour, when drinks are sold at reduced prices, can last from 5:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Raimer is agent in charge of the Ohio Department of Public Safety investigative unit in Akron. She spoke to roughly 50 bar-restaurant owners and managers, bartenders, clerks who work at grocery and convenience stores and others who wanted to learn more about Ohio's liquor laws.
Some no-no's
Raimer said establishments that sell alcohol cannot offer two-for-one specials or charge a lump price for the night's drinking, and no third-party sponsor can pick up the check after 9 p.m. As an example of a third-party sponsor, she mentioned a tanning salon that might promote a "ladies' night," when women drink for free.
Before 9 p.m., a third-party sponsor can pay for drinks, but each drink must be rung up at the time of the sale, Raimer said. "You need to document it as it goes along."
Alcohol sellers cannot give it away, she said. The ban includes drawing a business card out of a fishbowl and awarding a drink or six-pack of beer, she said.
Reporting violators
She told her audience to report liquor violations to (330) 644-0318. Most of agents' activity is based on complaints from the public, bar competitors and police.
Raimer said places that sell alcohol cannot have more than two lighted beer signs in their window and cannot have a sign advertising the price of beer on the building.
Raimer said bartenders can be cited for selling alcohol to a person who is intoxicated.
A woman who works at a grocery store that employs teenagers as young as 15 asked about stocking beer. Raimer said a person of any age can put beer on shelves but the clerk must be 18 to sell it.
Checking IDs
The top priority for liquor agents is sales to those who are underage, Raimer said. She warned that identification must be checked at the time of each sale, not just for the first.
If, for example, a bartender checks the ID of a person who may appear to be underage for the first drink but not for subsequent drinks, the bartender can be cited by a liquor agent who may have entered the bar later and observed the sale of only the subsequent drinks.
The only acceptable forms of identification are an Ohio ID card or Ohio or other states' driver's licenses, Raimer said. Unacceptable documents are military and college IDs and passports.
She said her agents send underage kids into bars with their own IDs to attempt to buy alcohol. "You'd be surprised how many times they get served" by bartenders who don't really look at the ID, she said.
She pointed out that bartenders have the right to refuse to sell to anyone.
House rules
John Conti, who owns Inner Circle Pizza on U.S. 224 in Boardman, asked if he had the right to establish "house rules" for the bar by setting an age requirement.
"It's your business," Raimer answered, "as long as you don't discriminate" in other areas such as race or gender.
Boardman Fire Lt. Jim McCreary cautioned that places of assembly, such as bars, must keep an eye on their occupancy and must know how many people they have inside if a fire inspector shows up and asks. He said fire inspectors checked eight establishments on the biggest drinking night of the year, the day before Thanksgiving, and only one place knew how many people were inside and how many were allowed.
The fire department can shut down your business if it's overcrowded.
meade@vindy.com