15% of Hawaii stores
aid underage drinking
66% of the offenders sold alcohol
to minors even after seeing ID
Nearly 15 percent of Hawaii stores involved in a random survey sold alcohol to minors this year, according to a report released yesterday.
"Although it is illegal to sell or provide alcohol to youth under 21, sadly minors do not have difficulty obtaining it," said Carol McNamee, founder and board member of Mothers Against Drunk Driving-Hawaii. "Youth often get alcohol either directly or indirectly by adults. That includes retail outlets."
The organization's "2004 Survey of Retail Alcohol Sales to Underage Persons" report showed that 72 of 495 randomly selected stores sold alcohol to minors. The survey was funded by the state Department of Health's Alcohol and Drug Abuse Division through a federal grant.
Underage decoys between ages 18 and 20 attempted to purchase alcohol at stores on Oahu, the Big Island, Maui and Kauai. A police officer who observed the transactions issued citations to store clerks who sold alcohol to the decoys.
While Oahu had the highest noncompliance rate at 18 percent, that rate was the lowest in five years and 4 percent lower than last year.
"Although this survey indicates a slight decrease of the noncompliance rate of alcohol retail sales to minors, it remains an unacceptable level of alcohol sales to underage people in Hawaii," said MADD Executive Director Connie Abram.
Stores in the Honolulu Airport and Kalihi area also had the highest rate of alcohol sales to decoys at 20 percent, while stores in East Honolulu had the lowest rate at 3 percent.
Selling alcohol to a minor in Honolulu is a misdemeanor that carries a $2,000 maximum fine and up to a year in jail. The store owner or licensee also faces a maximum penalty of $2,000 and revocation or suspension of their liquor license.
Capt. Kurt Kendro of the Honolulu Police Department's Juvenile Services Division said he was amazed that stores, primarily grocery stores, failed to comply with the law.
When clerks scan the item, a built-in check system reminds them to check their identification card, yet they still sell to the minor, Kendro said. "Or they will ask them their age. They say they're 20 and they will still sell. It stuns me that they would be that careless. ... Perhaps it's because they don't realize the overall effects of selling the alcohol."
Twenty-year-old Brandee Ging, one of MADD's underage decoys, said she would get upset at the clerks who sold alcohol to her.
"What if it were some kid that is going to a party or a club and gets drunk or gets someone else drunk?" said Ging, a student at the University of Hawaii.
Ging said she was a close friend of Brian Dade, the driver in a fatal crash on Kaukonahua Road near Waialua in April 2001. Dade, who was 18 at the time, survived, but three passengers -- his friends Anthony Alexander, Andrew Delos Reyes and Jeremy Tolentino of Mililani High School -- were killed. Prosecutors said Dade was drinking alcohol before the crash, but he was not legally drunk.
"It shook the whole school. It was really an eye-opener for me. It really hit me," Ging said.
In August, Dade pleaded guilty to three counts of second-degree negligent homicide and two counts of first-degree negligent injury stemming from the crash.
www.maddhawaii.org
