WINONA, Minn. – Three more Winona liquor establishments showed themselves lax on checking the ages of customers who walk in the door, often passing bouncers, and who order and are served liquor. In this second compliance check of the new school year, police sampled 17 establishments. Service was refused at 14. Three failed. A week ago at the first compliance check of the new school year, two establishments failed. This week:
Failed
Discount Liquor, 3733 Service Drive.
Third Street Liquor, 157 East Third Street.
VFW, 208 East Third Street.
Passed
Bruski’s Pub & Grill, 900 Bruski Drive.
Cornerstone Bar, 501 West Fourth Street.
Highway 61 Liquor, 1213 Gilmore Avenue.
Hy-Vee Wine & Spirits, 1463 West Service Drive.
Kate’s Place, 1000 East King Street.
Kwik Trip, 757 Cottonwood Drive.
Kwik Trip, Sixth and South Baker streets.
Lucky’s on Third, 107 West Third Street.
Mango’s Mexican &American Grill, 408 U.S. Highway 14.
Miya Japanese Bistro, 62 East Third Street.
MG’s on Fifth, 500 West Fifth Street.
The Lafayette,79 East Third Street.
Café Sapori di Sicilia, 211 Main Street.
Two Brothers Sports Bar & Grill, 129 West Third/
Low-budget policing
Compliance cheeks in recent years have involved sending an under-age police accomplice into bars to order a drink or into liquor stores to make a purchase. If served, a police officer enters. It’s hardly bust. The establishment is handed a a letter of non-compliance. Police Chief Tom Williams calls the procedure “educational”— a slight slap-on-the-wrist deterrent. There’s minimal hassle. Business goes on uninterrupted. There’s no report to the City Council as the licensing authority for liquor establishments.
Yesteryear’s bar busts
A decade ago the compliance checks were major police operations. Outside agencies sometimes assigned officers to help. Here’s what happened back then: Officers sealed front, back and side entrances to prevent anyone from escaping. Other officers went table to table and stool to stool and checked restroom stalls and looked under and behind counters for anyone hiding. Either you were of age – 21 — or you were hauled outside to be ticketed or in some cases to be hauled to jail. Now with a short-handed and budget-strapped police force and a shift in priorities, the thrust has softened. Rather than raids to capture under-age boozers, the compliance checks now focus on the establishments that do the serving. Nobody is much inconvenienced. Nobody goes to jail. A certificate of thanks is issue to compliant businesses. Others are handed a warning letter. The police staffing couldn’t be more minimal: A single officer and an under-age person to do the sting, although it’s hardly a sting and doesn’t hurt much.