BOOZE BLUES: County's liquor violations 'outside the norm'

Russell Wheatley, captain of Idaho State Police’s Alcohol Beverage Control division, adamantly believes he’s not in the business of deception.

When the department’s plain-clothed, underage decoys present identification to bouncers, bartenders, servers and clerks during state-wide operational stings, the IDs are their own.

Nor do detectives cunningly recruit teens who look years older.

"The whole point of these compliance operations isn't trickery," says Wheatley, whose unit hires people ages 17 to 20 for its stings. "If I could, I would use 14-year-olds."

Bearded or boyish, decoys are experiencing more compliance than violation. According to records gathered by The Press, from 2011-2015, ABC contacted 1,448 Idaho alcohol-licensed premises, issuing 266 citations for a compliance rate of 82 percent.

Kootenai County isn't boosting the state's favorable compliance numbers, however.

In five operations in the Coeur d'Alene area from July 2014 to June 2016, ABC visited 57 premises and doled out 21 citations. In its most recent sting — during Car d'Alene in June — four of 11 businesses were ticketed.

In an August 2014 sting, five of seven bars and stores failed.

"Those numbers are definitely outside the norm," Wheatley said of Kootenai County, which has a 63 percent compliance rate since 2014.

According to 2015 liquor sales records, part of the reason Kootenai County gets busted often is because a lot of liquor is sold here — fueled, perhaps, by a robust tourism industry. The Idaho Liquor Division shows $11.6 million in liquor sales in Coeur d’Alene alone. That compares to $37 million for Boise, $7.8 million for Nampa, $7 million for Idaho Falls and $6.8 million for Meridian.

So far this year, The Beacon, Ironhorse, and Doghouse — all downtown Coeur d'Alene bars — as well as Jordan's Grocery have been cited.

The Beacon, hit with its second ABC violation in three years, was slapped with a $1,500 fine and one week's suspension for underage serving and loitering. The suspension was allowed to be served concurrently with its temporary closure due to an Aug. 10 fire above the bar in the Pita Pit corporate offices.

The Ironhorse was ticketed with a $1,000 fine for underage serving and loitering; the Doghouse was fined $500 for underage serving; and no administration could be found for Jordan's Grocery punishment, per ABC's records, for selling to a minor.

ABC's stings aren't just limited to businesses, either. Operations also include "shoulder tapping," where a minor will ask an adult outside a convenience store to buy him or her alcohol.

According to Section 23-603 of Idaho Code, penalties for a person who sells or furnishes alcohol to underage youth include fines between $500 and $1,000 and as much as one year in jail. The maximum penalties for licensed establishments that sell alcohol to minors are a 10-day license suspension or $1,000 fine for a first offense within three years; a 30-day license suspension or 15-day suspension and $1,500 fine for a second offense within three years; and 180-day suspension for a third offense within three years.

ABC's jurisdiction is vast, considering the fact that its detectives are also police officers who enforce crimininal statues. Its bar-related violations, however, range from over-pouring, expired licenses to illegal advertising, with only a portion of its citations coming from stings.

The Grail, which operated for over 13 years in Huetter, had its liquor license revoked after selling alcohol during a strip show in April 2014. Although the license revocation was a result of this investigation, The Grail had numerous violations between its inception and closure in 2015.

Steve Wieland, a Boise-based lawyer who has worked many alcohol business-related cases across Idaho, has seen how ABC affects bar owners in different capacities.

"I can't say I've ever seen things I would call unfair," Wieland said. "But they do some things where the punishment may be disproportionate to the crime. When ABC comes and knocks on your door, it really shocks and frightens people. It can cripple a business.

"To ABC's credit, though, they know people make mistakes. I think they over-enforce a little bit but give people the benefit of the doubt. Enough to scare them straight, but not enough to run them out of business."

One over-enforcement Wieland mentioned was a situation in which a Meridian movie theater, one licensed to sell alcohol, was ticketed for serving during a showing of "50 Shades of Grey," an R-rated movie which contains nudity.

For 40 years, Idaho law prohibited places licensed to serve alcohol from showing movies that depict acts or simulated acts of sexual intercourse. The Meridian theater's owner sued ISP, saying its actions violate First Amendment rights to free speech. Earlier this year, after the lawsuit was filed, Idaho lawmakers repealed the section of the law for Idaho movie theaters, according to the Associated Press. The Legislature did not repeal the ban on live performances, but a similar lawsuit, filed by civil rights activists on behalf of a Boise arts collective, was settled this past week. In that case, ISP ticketed the artist group after the undercover detectives were served alcohol during a burlesque performance at the gallery. The AP reported that as part of the settlement, both parties have agreed to pause the ongoing lawsuit to wait and see if the 2017 Idaho Legislature will amend the law that particularly bans businesses serving alcohol during any live performances that depict simulated sex.

The Press reached out to 11 different Coeur d'Alene bar owners, managers, bartenders, beverage handlers and security for comment regarding ABC procedure. None of them would talk on the record. The consensus among the bartenders, however, is that there is a sense of entrapment with ABC stings, particularly during big-crowd events when adequate staffing can be a challenge.

Wheatley disagrees.

"Because there is a big event or a lot of people, you don't get a pass on these violations. It's up to them, to the business, to do it right," Wheatley said. "They have to make sure they have the resources."

A bartender can still be ticketed for underage serving if a decoy gets past the door man — that alone warrants a loitering ticket — and serves, thinking the minor's ID was initially cleared by staff.

Scott Morris, owner of Stir in Hayden, has a bar that attracts a different, older demographic than the downtown bars, which he said is by design. Most of the patrons who walk through Stir's doors are at least in their 30s and the clientele has grown since its opening last October.

But the older clientele hasn't changed his approach on how his staff operates. ABC compliance is a foremost priority.

"We really encourage our employees to watch the (alcohol compliance) video that the state has on record," Morris said. "That teaches them, tells them what to look for and to card people, basically. Sometimes there's people who walk into the bar and I just know they're not 21, and we card them."

Morris said he has gone to other bars in the county to see how they handle things procedurally, such as door security, IDing at the bar and overpouring. Stir has yet to deal with ABC on its premises, but Morris wants to make sure he's adequately prepared when it does.

"As much as bars under-pour, they over-pour. With the competition the way it is, they're over-pouring," Morris said. "When there's so much on the line, like your liquor license, or someone who puts that much money into their livelihood and business, why risk it?"

Ryan Collingwood is on Twitter at @RyanCdAPress. He can also be reached at rcollingwood@cdapress.com