EASY Makes It Harder to Sell Booze to Teens

If a kid walks up to you in a Torrance parking lot and asks you to buy a beer for him, watch out. There might be a cop waiting in the wings to cite you.

The new twist to the traditional decoy program, in which police Explorer Scouts try to catch clerks and bartenders selling alcohol to minors, was announced at a news conference Wednesday as part of a new alcohol awareness program sponsored by the state, the city and the Torrance Unified School District. The program will cost $166,000 the first year.

Torrance officials hope that their new program--dubbed EASY, or Eliminate Alcohol Sales to Youth--will become as popular as MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) and DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education).

Besides using decoys, officials will stage quarterly seminars for the city’s 348 licensed liquor sales outlets, schoolteachers and parents to talk about problems related to alcohol. They hope to eventually make it impossible for Torrance teen-agers to buy alcohol.

The chiefs of every South Bay police department have agreed to step up their decoy programs in response to Torrance’s efforts.

Jay Stroh, director of the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Department, praised EASY as the first regional effort to keep alcohol away from youngsters.

“Usually what you’ve got is one jurisdiction doing something that forces a problem into another jurisdiction,” Stroh said. “That’s the beauty of it here. This is a joint effort that I think will be very successful and will set a pattern for the state and the nation.”

Torrance Police Capt. James Weyant, commander of the Police Department’s investigative bureau, said officials created EASY because they were frustrated by the fact that Explorer Scouts in their current decoy programs were able to buy alcohol at more than 35% of the establishments checked.

“This program would be considered a success if the police sent out their minors and didn’t have anyone sell to them at all,” said Jane Hernandez, district administrator for the Alcoholic Beverage Control Department. “We’re not out to get anyone. We’re out to teach everyone.”

Following the news conference, a panel of police officers, enforcement officials and a judge spoke to a group of about 40 bartenders and liquor-store clerks and owners about the program.

The panel asked supervisors to encourage their staffs to wear EASY T-shirts and buttons, to tell customers about the EASY program and to clearly display the EASY logo in store windows to discourage minors from attempting to buy alcohol there.

South Bay Municipal Court Judge Ben Aranda warned that violations, either by bartenders and clerks or by adults who buy alcohol for minors, will not be tolerated.

“There is no such thing as a freebie on this,” Aranda said.

First offenders will be ordered to pay a minimum fine of $350 and penalty charges of more than $400 and will be placed on three years probation. Second offenses “more than likely” will lead to 10 days in jail, he said.

In addition, the state can levy fines against a store owner whose employees sell alcohol to minors and can act to suspend or revoke the outlet’s liquor license, Hernandez warned.

“The message is: If you have any doubt, don’t sell,” she said. “Ask yourself: Is it worth a $300 or $700 fine to sell a six-pack of beer? The answer will be no.”

Liquor store workers who attended the two-hour seminar said they want the program to work.

“I don’t sell if I’m not absolutely sure. Anyone younger than me, I card,” said 7-Eleven clerk Michael John, 26. “I’ve gotten a lot of people mad at me, but that’s how I handle it.”

John, who works a midnight shift, said minors try to buy alcohol from him “all the time, every shift.”

He said he intends to do everything he can to support EASY.

“There’s too many people getting hurt from this, and it’s time people opened their eyes.”