Taking A Stand: Sell my kid beer and face my wrath
How difficult is it to ask for identification when you’re selling beer and liquor?
Obviously it was too big of a task for several local stores who sold beer to an undercover agent last week. Come on folks, if someone looks under 30, just ask for an ID. This isn’t rocket science, yet year after year they catch clerks and even store owners selling to kids. All you have to do is look at the ID and look at the picture on it.
And, let me point out, before the excuses start flying, I met this operative who I guessed to be 17 when I first saw him. Anyone who tells you this kid looked over 21 is either blind or a liar. I don’t care if he walked up to the counter with even a fake ID saying he was 44, it was obvious this kid was underage.
What this all boils down to is some folks just don’t care. They don’t care that they’re putting ammo in a 4,000-pound weapon when a kid pulls out of the parking lot in car with a 12-pack of Bud or a fifth of Jack. I’d say these same people would be appalled if someone sold cocaine to their kid or hooked him up with an eight-ball of meth. Yet, they sell this intoxicating substance without so much as asking for ID. I guess it wouldn’t be their fault when the kid runs headlong into a tree and gets killed.
Make no mistake, kids will purchase alcohol if given the opportunity. When I was growing up, some of my friends and I thought it was a big deal to go to a package store here in McMinnville and buy a six pack. Despite the fact I was just 16 or 17, I rarely had problems getting beer. As a matter of fact, to show you how easy it was, a friend of mine, who was a year younger, would sometimes buy it just to prove he could. We knew the place who would sell it, and rarely, if ever, did they ask for ID.
It really wasn’t about the beer, seeing we had little to no money and could barely afford enough to catch a buzz. Instead, it was the thrill of tasting the forbidden fruit. It made us feel grown up to be able to buy beer. With this in mind, and given the fact we were average teen-agers, I’d say there are many underage people who do the same thing. They know where to go to buy it and as long as there are people out there who will sell, they’ll continue to buy.
The excuse that if one place won’t sell it then the other one will is a cop out. That kind of thinking is why our meth problem is so big because merchants continue to insist on selling ephedrine, a main ingredient in meth.
There’s a reason the legal age is 21. When I was a teen-ager, I had no business drinking and by the grace of God I didn’t kill myself or others. Of course, in my 14 years of working wrecks here, I’ve seen numerous kids who weren’t so lucky as they either killed themselves, their friends or innocent citizens because they were drunk. And, I’ve yet to see any clerk brought to justice for putting the deadly weapon in their hand. Don’t make the mistake of thinking you can be a good person and still sell alcohol to a kid.
Now, I’ve got a son growing up and I’m going to talk to him about the dangers associated with drinking and driving. But, by the same token, I’d take it personally if someone put alcohol into his hands.
The last person that clerk has to worry about is the police if that happens and you can mark that down in your book because I take that as an assault on my family. I have no plans to sell meth to your kids so do me the honor of not selling alcohol to mine.
(Duane Sherrill is a reporter for the Standard. He can be reached at 473-2191 or by e-mail at news@southernstandard.com.)