HOMER — Banks County Commission Chairman Jimmy Hooper had stern words for two Banks Crossing restaurants accused of selling alcohol to a 17-year-old during an underage operation conducted by state and county investigators March 28.
"I want y'all to be responsible for that teenager that comes into your place of business and you will not — you will not sell them alcohol!" Hooper told Jose Lopez during the hearing on La Hacienda Mexican Restaurant's alleged violation. "You will not serve underage citizens of Banks County alcohol. If you do, we're going to take that privilege away from you."
An employee of La Hacienda, located at 173 Steven B. Tanger Blvd., sold a beer to the teen operative at 11:28 a.m. without checking her identification to make sure she was 21 or older, Investigator Dennis Elrod stated during the hearing.
Lopez told commissioners the employee in question had only been working for 10 minutes at the time of the incident, and that the individual remains employed by the restaurant.
Hooper made a motion to place La Hacienda on six months of probation as a result of the violation, with other commissioners voting in favor.
"If you step over the line again, we will come back and talk again — probably about revocation of your license," Hooper told Lopez.
Similarly, an employee of Koji Japanese Steakhouse & Sushi Bar at 30835 Hwy. 441 S., sold a beer to the teen at 12:17 p.m. without checking identification.
Fing Linn, representing Yuping Ni, told commissioners the employee in question was tired at the time and simply failed to check identification. Linn said he will do additional training with all employees to avoid a repeat offense.
Hooper motioned to place Koji Japanese Steakhouse & Sushi Bar on six months of probation as a result of the violation, with other commissioners voting in favor.
"If at any time you violate and do this again, sell to an underage person or break any of the rules concerning alcohol, we will revoke your license," Hooper told Linn. "You're on probation now. Go and renew your training, talk to your servers, think about how you want to check IDs, get you up a game plan so this won't happen again. I mean it when I say if you come back within six months you won't sell alcohol."
The probationary periods began immediately and continue through Oct. 12.
The employees who sold to the teen each were charged with sale of alcohol to an underage person, which is a misdemeanor.
The violation by a La Hacienda employee is the third for the business, with the others occurring in 2007 and 2008, county officials said.
Hooper praised eateries in the county that properly checked the teen operative's identification and didn't sell to her.
"We had 18 businesses that did the right thing -- and that's a good thing," Hooper said.
