Two Sand Mountain Stores Fined For Selling Alcohol To Underage Buyers
By LYDIA BERGLAR
News Editor
The Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) Board held a meeting on the evening of Sept. 26 to hear from two store owners whose employees sold alcohol to underage buyers and prescribe the appropriate fines and/or license revocation.
Prior to the meeting, Sergeant Chad Payne (public information officer) explained to the Sentinel that the Dade County Sheriff’s Office investigations department periodically organizes sting operations, sending selected underage buyers into stores to attempt to purchase alcohol.
The Trenton Police Department handles stores inside the city; DCSO handles the county. Violators are issued a citation, and law enforcement furnishes the ABC Board with a list of the violators/stores. The city handles violators inside the city.
At this meeting, the ABC Board heard briefly from Misty McConathy (DCSO detective), Phyllis Clark (owner of the Stop n’ Go on GA-136 near the state line), and Jay Patel (owner of Smart Mart on GA-301 near the state line).
McConathy said the underage buyers are part of the Ringgold Police Department’s Police Explorers program. DCSO split the county into three sections: Several buys happened in Trenton and on the west side of the county, but none happened on the east side.
McConathy asked Clark to confirm that an underaged buyer purchased alcohol at her store on Aug. 15. Clark noted that the clerk who made the sale was Angela Clayton, and she thinks that Clayton misread the date on the ID. Since the sting op, Clayton has gone through remedial training.
Clark purchased the store earlier this year. Prior to her ownership, there was another instance of sales to underage buyers in 2021, but for Clark, this is a first offense.
The store’s register does not scan ideas, nor can you manually enter the date. It simply asks clerks to answer whether or not the buyer is over 21 years old. Patty Murphy (ABC Board clerk) recommended upgrading to a system that scans IDs.
McConathy told both owners that the sheriff’s office typically completes these sting ops once a year, but due to increased reports of underage buyers being able to purchase alcohol, they will increase the frequency. She said, “Our highest priority is protecting our children.”
Because this was her first offense, Clark was offered the choice of a 14-day beer and wine license suspension or a $1,000 fine. She chose the fine.
Murphy thanked Clark for coming and encouraged her to stay on top of her employees’ training and practices.
Patel was up next. He explained that his employee asked for ID but thought that the ID was fake. McConathy explained that the sheriff’s office examines the buyers’ IDs and gives them strict instructions to use their real IDs. “If she thought it was fake, she shouldn’t have made the sale.”
Patel said that since the sting op, the store upgraded to a register that scans IDs.
Before he owned the store, there was another instance of sales to an underaged buyer in 2022, but like Clark, this was his first offense, so he was offered a choice between a 14-day beer and wine license suspension or $1,000 fine.
Patel chose the fine and said, “We’re not going to make the $1,000 back, but at the same time, we don’t want to stop the traffic flow coming into the store…We’re not here to sell to anyone underage.”
ABC Board members (John Gothard, Darrell Pardue, Dorayne “Rooster” Stephens, Doug “Peanut” Moore, Robert “Smokey” Russell) did not have questions for either store owner.
