Wednesday, March 3, 2010
The ice machine at Rick’s Place, 846 Illinois St., is full of good advice.
Next to pictures of people letting loose in the bar is a sign advertising the “Fake or Borrowed ID 101” initiative recently launched in Lawrence.
A poster for the fake ID initiative is on display at Rick's Bar. Lawrence and state groups took part in the initiative.
And if you look close enough at the sign, you might be able see the three remaining sting dates scribbled down on the back of a receipt for everyone to see.
In case your eyes are bad, or you’re under 21 and shouldn’t be there, the scheduled dates are tonight, March 25 and March 27.
“We tell everyone we can possibly tell,” Rick Younger, owner of Rick’s Place, said.
The campaign was created in response to the 118 fake ID charges reported last year and the 27 charges reported this January, said Jen Brinkerhoff, director of prevention for the Douglas County Citizens Committee on Alcoholism, or DCCCA.
“The majority of people that go to KU are under 21, so they need to have another message besides ‘Just do it safe,’” Brinkerhoff said. “A responsible message is, ‘If you’re under 21, the best thing is to not drink at all.’”
Younger was part of the committee that organized the initiative. The committee included the owners of Wayne & Larry’s and Johnny’s Tavern, The New Tradition Coalition of Lawrence, the Kansas Traffic Safety Resource Office, the Department of Revenue — Alcoholic Beverage Control, the KU Office of Public Safety, the Lawrence Police Department and the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office.
Brinkerhoff said the initiative received a $20,000 grant from the Department of Transportation to pay for posters such as those on Rick’s ice machine and the officers’ over-time hours during target days.
On Feb. 22, eight officers scanned 35 liquor-serving establishments and caught five minors in the first sting operation.
Brinkerhoff said the remaining dates of the stings might be subject to change depending on the officers’ availability, but that the target dates, although written into the grant proposal, weren’t meant to be public knowledge.
She said that Lawrence bar owners were invited to be part of the committee but that only three attended and were told the dates.
“They’re the ones that showed up and wanted to be apart of it, so yeah they found out,” she said. “I guess it was a little bit of a perk.”
As a part of the educational campaign, Brinkerhoff has placed ads in the Kansan and distributed posters to bar owners warning minors to think twice about the consequences of using false identification.
“It’s public education as well as striking fear into the hearts of minors,” Sgt. Steve Lewis of the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office said. “There are consequences if you’re doing something illegal, so just be aware that those consequences are out there.”
Jo Hardesky, director of Legal Services for Students, said that under Lawrence’s city ordinance, the consequences of a fake ID could include a fine from $300 to $500 and no less than 100 hours of public service duties. A second offense could cost from $500 to $2,500 and up to a year in jail.
Those prices do not include the court fees of $52, nor do they add in the probability of receiving an MIP as well as the fake ID charge.
“We usually don’t see the fake ID charge by itself that often, because the people who are getting caught are trying to get into a bar or buying something at a liquor store,” Hardesky said.
Younger said that Rick’s Place enforced the law, even if he didn’t agree with it.
“I think the law is wrong, I think it should be 18, but since it’s 21 and since we have to do it, I just have to be a hard-on about it,” he said. “It’s just the nature of the law and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
— Edited by Katie Blankenau
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