Six businesses fail compliance tests

The Daily Inter Lake

Six of eight businesses sold alcohol to minors in compliance checks conducted Thursday by the Flathead County Alcohol Enforcement Team.

Volunteer underage buyers gave servers their actual valid IDs when asked, according to Flathead County Sheriff's Detective Travis Bruyer, the Alcohol Enforcement Team's coordinator.

Servers at 75 percent of the selected establishments either didn't request ID or did the math wrong.

Lucky Lil's Casino on West Idaho Street in Kalispell and Mambo Italiano in Whitefish passed.

Rising Sun Bistro in Whitefish, Pescado Blanco in Whitefish, The Alley Connection Restaurant in Kalispell, Blue Canyon Casino in Kalispell, Best Bet Casino on U.S. 93 in Kalispell and Mountain Valley Foods in Kalispell failed.

Penalties for selling alcohol to people under 21 are levied against both the seller and business owner. The actual seller is fined between $100 and $300, depending on the number of offenses.

The business owner gets fined $250 for a first offense, $1,000 for a second offense, $1,500 and a 20 day suspension from selling alcohol for a third offense, and the revocation of their liquor license for a fourth.

There are about 300 establishments in the valley that sell or serve alcohol. Thursday's round of compliance checks was the second of 2008.

Since the Alcohol Enforcement Team was organized in 2005, it has arrested more than 2,300 youths for possession of alcohol and more than 300 adults for providing it to them.