Thirty-somethings need not be offended if you’re not carded when you buy alcohol. Some stores in Rowan County don’t even card 15-year-olds.
Five out of 21 stores sold beer to an undercover 15-year-old Wednesday.
“That is right about national average, but of course we’re looking for absolute zero,” said Ray Shuler, chief of the Rowan County office of the N.C. Alcohol Beverage Control.
Cited for selling alcohol to a minor were:
- Food Lion, U.S. 70, Salisbury. Clerk: Tiffany Hudtgins, 16, 3990 Statesville Blvd, Salisbury.
- Wilco Foodmart, 827 Jake Alexander Blvd., Salisbury. Clerk: Shenika Walker, 19, 315 Chesapeake Dr., Salisbury.
- Citgo Sav-A-Ton, 210 S. Main St., Salisbury. Clerk: Bertha Javins, 50, 402 S. Franklin St.
- K-Mart, 815 East Innes St., Salisbury. Clerk: Dawn Lawson, 37, Rockwell.
- BPPop Shoppe 136, 939 Jake Alexander Blvd. Clerk: Ella Austin, 31, Salisbury.
Shuler, an undercover ABC officer and the teen began working around 3 Wednesday afternoon.
“We’ll start you off with a five,” Shuler says as he hands the undercover teen a bill. A student doing the work for community service hours required for graduation, she cannot tell anyone about her work with ABC.
The teen folds the money up and sticks it in the front pocket of her jeans. Wearing jeans, a t-shirt and tennis shoes, the girl looks like a standard high school student.
The first stop is M&L Mini-Mart on North Main Street.
Shuler communicates with the undercover ABC officer via walkie-talkie.
The teen goes in the store and Shuler waits a few minutes before following her.
The other undercover officer watches from across the street to make sure everything goes OK. If there is a sale, it’s his job to verify all the alcohol sale licenses and do most of the paperwork.
The teen comes out of the store, almost with a look of disappointment. She gets in the car and says the clerk “looked about 90.”
“He said I had to be born in ’79 to buy it,” she says.
Shuler comes out of the store with some water.
Part of the fun of the operation is just finding out what the officer is going to buy in each store.
It doesn’t take long for the car to fill up with gum, mints and candy.
The teen tells Shuler what happened in the store and he records notes on a manila folder.
“They didn’t sell, which is good, because this place” had a previous citation for selling to someone underage, Shuler says.
At the Spencer CountryCupboard, the clerk immediately called the police. “I told him he did a good job,” Shuler said.
When there is any confrontation, Shuler informs the clerks that it was part of an ABCoperation. Otherwise, they don’t tell the stores until the end of the day.
At the end of the operation, the officers send every store that followed the rules a letter of commendation “saying your employee did a good job.”
They generally try not to alert the clerks that the teen was part of an operation until every store has been checked.
“We don’t say anything right away because we found that convenient stores would call each other and say ABC’s on the way,” Shuler said.
And that seemed to happen when the girl went to the Speedway on East Innes Street.
The teen walked out of the store and got into the car. “She (the clerk) said, ‘You tried this last night, too.’ She got all mad,” the girl said.
And by the time the officers got over to the Race Trac and the Amoco, the girl had the feeling they knew about her.
“The woman was like laughing the whole time I was in there. When I put the beer up on the counter, she just looked up and laughed at me,” the girl said.
But some stores didn’t catch on so quickly.
The undercover teen first succeeded in buying beer at a Food Lion store.
She said the cashier was talking to the bagger and didn’t even look at her or ask for identification.
Shuler and the other ABC agent went in the store after the purchase, talked to the store manager and issued a citation. The store fired the clerk, Shuler said.
“Their cash registers have it where you enter the birth date to sell alcohol, and she just hit the override,” Shuler said.
Last year, the agency spent between $150 and $200 on alcohol purchases. Usually they buy 22-ounce Icehouse bottles that cost around $1.
Shuler is glad most cash registers validate the birth date but is disappointed most cashiers don’t immediately notice the warning signs on driver’s licenses.
A state-issued driver’s license for 15-year-olds has “Under 18” written in black along the side of the person’s face. There is a red border around the picture, and the birth date is in red if they are not 21 years old.
“We are not out to trick anyone. That is why we use 15-year-olds,” Shuler said.
And even when the clerk at Wilco on Jake Alexander asked the teen how old she was. “Fifteen,” the girl said. She sold her the alcohol anyway.
“Sometimes, I feel like they are selling it to me as a favor. Like they are trying to do me a favor,” the teen said.
The alcohol the girl successfully purchases is held until the case is resolved and then destroyed.
“Anything that is a controlled substance is destroyed. And with kids under 21, we consider that [alcohol] to be a controlled substance. It is destroyed after court,” Shuler said.
“We’ve never had a whole day where we’ve never had a sale. We’ve been doing classes and sending out letters so I keep hoping,” Shuler said.
The following stores did not sell the alcohol to the undercover teens.
- M&L Mini-Mart, 1130 N. Main St., North Main Street, Salisbury.
- The Pantry, 300 South Salisbury Ave., Spencer.
- Spencer Country Cupboard, 701 N. Salisbury Ave., Spencer.
- Amoco, Statesville and Mahaley, Salisbury.
- Amoco, Jake Alexander and Statesville, Salisbury.
- Speedway, East Innes Street, Salisbury.
- Racetrac, East Innes Street, Salisbury.
- Amoco, East Innes Street, Salisbury.
- Servco, West Innes Street, Salisbury.
- Texaco, West InnesStreet, Salisbury.
- Citgo Pop Shoppe, 1831 West Innes, Salisbury.
- Harris Teeter, 850 W. Jake Alexander, Salisbury.
- Monterrey Mexican Restaurant, 2094 Statesville Blvd., Salisbury.
- Texaco, South Main at Jake Alexander, Salisbury
- Amoco, Jake Alexander and 85, Salisbury.
- Phillips 76, East Innes and 85, Salisbury.
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