On Saturday, Dec. 19, the Merrill Police Department conducted alcohol compliance checks with local alcohol retailers.
In a report to the city’s Health & Safety Committee, Police Chief Ken Neff noted that 38% of the alcohol retail businesses that were checked, failed by selling alcoholic products to an adult under the age of 21. The establishments checked included convenience stores, grocery stores and taverns.
“This non-compliance rate is slightly higher than the average non-compliance of 30% that we have experienced over the past five years,” Neff stated.
As a result of the non-compliance checks, eight employees of the establishments that sold alcohol to the underage person were issued a municipal citation. Conversely, 13 of the 21 retailers checks complied with the law and refused to sell alcohol to the underage person involved in the compliance checks.
As in the past, the Merrill Police Department will be offering an Alcohol Server Workshop on Feb. 2 to all alcohol retailers and employees in an effort to curb the sale of alcohol to underage persons in the city of Merrill. This workshop is offered free of charge in conjunction with the Lincoln County Drug-free Coalition and funding is provided by the Merrill United Way.
Neff concluded that the Merrill Police Department will continue to conduct compliance checks of licensed alcohol retailers with a goal of seeing a reduction in the non-compliance rate.