By Jim Newell
Review Editor
Oakland County Sheriff’s Office (OCSO) deputies began conducting routine liquor license inspections at several businesses in Orion Township last week, citing three for selling to minors after employees failed to adequately check the identification of a police decoy.
“The first seventeen inspections consisted of investigators conducting alcohol sales compliance checks with underage decoys. Three businesses sold alcohol without properly checking for identification from the decoy,” said the Orion Twp. substation of the OCSO in a statement to The Lake Orion Review.
The businesses were:
CVS, 3475 S. Baldwin Rd.; Star Market Place, 3890 Joslyn Rd.; and Oak Barrel, 2515 S. Lapeer Rd.
The businesses in violation were issued Michigan Liquor Control Commission violations and the employees who sold alcohol to the minor were also individually cited for providing alcohol to a minor.
Compliance checks of all liquor license holders are routinely done throughout the year to ensure compliance with all laws.
The goal is to prevent underage drinking and save lives by preventing alcohol-related tragedies. The inspections will continue over the next 90 days and every business in Orion Twp. with a liquor license will be checked, according to the sheriff’s office.
“The decoy presents their actual ‘vertical under 21 years of age driver’s license’ to the clerk or waitress. There is no deception at all on the part of the decoy or the police officer who is present and witnesses the transactions,” said Lt. Dan Toth, commander of the OCSO Orion Twp. substation.
“The decoy is truthful if asked their age. Each year, liquor establishments are reminded that these types of inspections are being conducted and the latest Michigan Liquor Control Commission vender education and training packets are dropped off to the businesses prior to inspections,” Toth said.
“Underage persons found in possession of alcohol have consequences and adult persons who contribute or furnish alcohol have consequences and responsibilities,” Toth said.
A CVS manager said she could not comment and referred questions to the corporate office.
The owner of Oak Barrel Party Shoppe said the store sees 20-30 visitors a day from the high school and he and his staff recognize most of them on sight. He added that the store policy is never to sell to minors.
“This is the first time we have had this problem,” the owner said, adding that the decoy came “at a busy time” and appeared to be in his mid-twenties, with a full beard. “We don’t sell to anyone underage. Some people don’t like it when you ask for ID.”
Sam Alyass, owner of Star Market, said he purchased the property less than six months ago and felt the inspections were “unfair.”
The employee who sold the alcohol to the decoy was only on her second day of work, he said. “She wasn’t trained. She made a mistake on the date.”
Alyass said that while he was not in the store at the time of the surprise inspection, his employees informed him that “The person from the sheriff’s department was rude to employees” and “the way she walked into the store, it doesn’t seem like it was professional work.”
He also said that he spent $3,000 for a machine to scan drivers’ licenses.
“We check every single person, we are very thorough,” Alyass said. “What’s going to happen next, I have no idea.”
As of July 1, 2003, Michigan began issuing a vertical driver’s license (or state identification card) to young people under the age of 21. The distinctive shape of the new vertical driver’s license instantly alerts retailers, restaurants and bars that the cardholder is not of legal age to purchase alcohol or tobacco.