Violation of alcohol compliance guidelines in Alamance County
Multiple Alamance County law enforcement agencies banned together last month to conduct a sting on more than 40 area stores that sell alcohol to see which ones might sell to underage people. Nearly half of them did.
According to a news release issued by the Alamance Citizens for a Drug Free Community, out of the 42 outlets inspected,17 faced violations due to the clerk selling alcohol to an underage individual. The 17 facilities that failed the compliance check included numerous Family Fares, grocery stores, mini-marts, and gas stations throughout Burlington, Elon, Gibsonville, Graham, Mebane and other parts of the county.
"Alcohol compliance operations are a way for law enforcement to see if the clerk would sell to an underage buyer,” said Karen Webb, who is the director of Alamance Citizens for a Drug-Free Community, a nonprofit organization in Graham.
Capt, Tony Velez, spokesperson for Graham Police, said the police typically use underage buyers to approach the clerk while there’s an observer watching. Typically, the underage buyer enters the store with an undercover officer, who observes whether a sale was made or not.
If a sale is made to a minor, the buyer is then sent to take the alcohol to a car outside with officers waiting. Shortly after, an officer will enter the store to inform the clerk that they received a citation.
It hasn’t been determined yet what measures will be taken to correct these violations, but in previous years, voluntary Server Education training has been made available through the ALE (Alcohol Law Enforcement) agency in North Carolina. ALE offers free online responsible alcohol seller/serving training to teach servers and clerks about proper ABC (Alcoholic Beverage Control) laws and guidelines.
Webb said that the Alamance Citizens for a Drug-Free Community “coordinate with law enforcement” and ALE to ensure that state procedures are being followed throughout different alcohol merchants.
These alcohol compliance regulations are routinely performed, although the number of inspections was limited recently due to COVID-19. These operations are usually county-wide, and they’re not overly regulated.
Below is a list of the establishments that were checked for compliance and failed:
Alamance County
Dollar General 1523 Powerline Rd
Sandy Cross Mart 2 2073 N NC Highway 49
K&J Grill 4038 NC Highway 62
Burlington
Grove Park Family Fare 2123 S Church St
Ricks Food Mart 1122 E Morehead St
Family Fare 2227 Maple Ave
Family Fare 2611 Maple Ave
Raygo Mart 2207 Edgewood Ave
ARA NC (Tommy’s Mini Mart) 538 Trollinger St
Food Lion 178 W Webb Ave
Elon
Circle K 110 W Haggard Ave
Gibsonville
Eagle Food Mart 501 Burlington Ave
Huff’s 205 W Main St
Graham
6 to 1 Mini Mart 201 W Harden St
Family Fare 301 S Main St
Graham Mart 419 S Main St
Mebane
Ray’s Mini Mart 1282 S 5th St
This article originally appeared on Times-News: Liquor distributors in Alamance County fail routine compliance check
