By Michael Jamison of the Missoulian
This article was posted on The Missoulian.com – Western Montana’s News Online
BarBizMag.com Editorial Note: The Missoulian.com has actively addressed Montana’s drunken-driving crisis with a four-part editorial series covering different elements that contribute to the state-wide issue. THe third part of the series, written by Michael Jamison, is directly aimed at the need for carding and identification checks at on-premise venues.
For more information on your state’s Alcohol Laws & Regulations, please visit the TIPS (Training for Intervention ProcedureS) website for more information on how you can best prepare your bar and staff for compliance, required, voluntary or otherwise.
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Thompson Falls, May 26, 2009 – Krista Standeford printed fliers, appeared in news stories and visited every bar in Sanders County, warning of a crackdown and offering free classes so bartenders were not selling booze to minors.
“But people didn’t want to hear it,” she said. “Nobody was mean, but nobody was very nice, either.”
She watched, in fact, as more than one flier hit the trash can. And when she held her first RASS training (that’s responsible alcohol sales and service), only four establishments sent servers. Now, they’re lining up at her door.
That’s because on April 24, eight separate law enforcement teams fanned out across Sanders County, conducting the first alcohol-sales compliance checks there in years. It was a coordinated effort, Standeford said, with help from the county attorney, the sheriff and all the city police departments. And somehow, despite all the early warnings and fliers and site visits, bartenders were surprised when police showed up to do the undercover checks. Of the 32 establishments visited on that Friday afternoon, a full 25 percent failed.
Servers received hefty fines and “since then,” Standeford said, “the response has been great.”
Standeford is part of the Montana Community Change Project, a new statewide effort to make Montana’s alcohol attitudes less permissive. To be sure, the state leads in all the wrong places – drunk driving fatalities, teen drinking, binge drinking. The initiative hopes to address those problems, both from the top down and from the bottom up. From the top down, efforts such as the compliance checks are intended to enforce policy. From the bottom up, community awareness projects are intended to generate support for those policies.
“It is kind of a hassle,” said Darlene Franzwa, manager at the Rimrock Lounge in Thompson Falls. “But in the long run, I suppose it’s a good thing. Personally, I’d have no problem attending the class.”
But she didn’t attend the first class, and neither did the Rimrock bartender who served the minor a drink during the undercover check.
“The girl checked his ID,” Franzwa said, “but she must have read it wrong or not looked close enough. She made a mistake, and we’re definitely obligated to be professional.”
Professional, in fact, is exactly how Montana Highway Patrol Col. Mike Tooley wants bartenders to be treated.
“It’s their job,” he said. “They’re selling a legal drug, and it’s totally irresponsible for the state of Montana to allow people to sell legal drugs without some kind of basic training.”
He is among those supporting mandatory RASS training for anyone who sells alcohol. The current voluntary system doesn’t work, he said, and classes are too few and far between. In Sanders County, the Montana Community Change Project is focusing on both high-visibility compliance checks and RASS training, to teach servers how to turn away both under-aged drinkers as well as adults who have had too much to drink. Both initiatives, Standeford said, can save lives.
“There’s a lot of community support,” she said. “Attitudes are changing. People are writing letters to the editor, saying under-aged drinking is no longer something that’s going to be tolerated here. We’re not going to keep over-serving people who have had too much. It’s a big train we’re trying to get up that hill, but there’s a lot of people pulling it.”
People like Standeford, and the sheriff, and also people like John Norgaard. He owns the Montana Bar in Hot Springs, and was one of the Sanders County establishments that passed the compliance check with no problem. So long as it’s a fair check, he said, and not a “sting,” then “it’s not a big deal. In this business, you’ve got to be on your toes, and we should be checking.”
Norgaard used to own a bar over in Oregon, where RASS training was mandatory, and “it was a little bit of a hassle, but you learned a lot. There was a lot of information there. If they wanted to make it mandatory here, I wouldn’t be against it. I’d send my bartenders.”
Norgaard has a business, of course, but he also has kids, “and I don’t want them drinking. I don’t want them run over by some drunk, either.”
As of January 2008, 18 states had mandatory RASS training, 22 had voluntary training and 16 had none at all. Montana allows voluntary RASS classes, which can mean reduced fines for bartenders caught by a sting.
“Bartenders need to know the facts,” said Travis Bruyer, who heads the alcohol enforcement team at the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office. “For instance, did you know that blood alcohol content continues to go up for an hour and a half after you’ve had your last drink?”
“In our society,” he said, “serving alcohol with no training should be unacceptable.” When Bruyer’s team started doing compliance checks in the Flathead, “we saw a big change, right away. Owners got on board.”
Now, clerks call the cops, instead of the other way around. And the Montana Tavern Association has been pushing RASS training, too, with online classes and stipends to businesses whose employees participate.
All of which is a good thing, said Brenda Simmons, coordinator of the Montana Community Change Project, because “RASS by itself does almost nothing.” To have an effect, she said, you need buy-in from businesses and cops alike. They’ve done exit surveys, she said, of adult DUI offenders and of teens hit with minor-in-possession charges, asking “where’d you get your last drink?” Too often, the answers tend to clump up – providing police with places to target with education and compliance checks.
Simmons hopes for statewide training, including bartenders, store clerks, even the volunteers who staff local beer gardens at community festivals.
“It’s not about prohibition,” Simmons said. “It’s not about no-alcohol. It’s about some control, so it’s not a free-for-all.”
Just consider Butte, she said, where they’ve been known to shut down the court for a day, just to process under-aged drinkers busted during St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. How much hassle could be avoided with some simple rules? Simmons wonders. Wristbands for those over 21. No coolers. No bulk sales. “In the long run,” she said, “it will save money, and it will be an economic success.”
And maybe, just maybe, times will change. As they already have, up in Sanders County. Where over at the Knotty Pine, which didn’t attend Standeford’s first RASS class, they failed the April compliance check. Now, RASS training is mandatory for staff there, she said, and the establishment even played host to her latest class.
“They’re pretty excited,” Standeford said. “They even served everyone lunch.”
And her latest flier, unlike the first, is posted right there on the wall, behind the bar.
Click here to see the full article by Michael Jamison on the Missoulian.com
Click here to view the TIPS State Alcohol Laws & Regulations map.
