One for the dripper
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Details, page 2
Published since 1889 by the students of the University of Kansas
Tuesday
March 24, 1987
Vol. 97, N0. 117
(USPS 650-640)
Countv officials crack down on use of fake I.D.
By PAUL BELDEN
Staff writer
Jamie Stout, Wichita freshman, was sitting in the Mad Hatter, beer in hand, having a casual chat with a friend when she was caught.
"This undercover lady cop came up and asked to see my I.D." Stout said. "I was like, 'What?' because you know, she wasn't dressed like a cop. Then she flashed her badge and, oh well."
Stout was arrested Feb. 5 at the Mad Hatter, 700 New Hampshire, and was charged with displaying false identification, a class B misdemeanor, punishable by six months in the county cailty and a $1,000 fine.
Stout is one of many. Raising the legal drinking age in Kansas has meant more underage drinkers and more fake I.D.'s.
Jim Flory, Douglas County district attorney, said he reviewed the fake LD. problem seven months ago.
"I discovered that it was so prevalent and so intentional that I decided I would not give diversion on the possession of fake I.D.'s." he said. In diversion agreements, the prosecutor agrees not to pursue the case if the defendant meets certain conditions.
John Lamb, director of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Division, agreed with Flory about the increasing use of take LD.'s.
"It's always been there to a certain extent, but it never reached the proportion it has in the last two years," he said.
Lamb said that since Jan. 1, 1986,
ABC agents had made about 40
arrests for the use of fake I.D.'s.
"I would say that before 1985, we probably had fewer than five fake U.D. arrests, period," he said.
'We want to put some teeth into the law.'
- Leonard Robinson assistant attorney general
in the most recent take I.D. cases Flory has prosecuted, the convicted persons received a 30-day suspended jail sentence and one year probation and were required to attend the Douglas County Citizens Committee on Alcoholism program and do five
hours community service work.
The ABC wants to stiffen these penalties.
Leonard Robinson, an assistant attorney general assigned to the ABC, said the ABC would ask the state Legislature for a mandatory $250 fine and either 48 hours in jail or 40 hours of community service work for those convicted of using fake LD's.
"We want to put some teeth into the law," he said.
The proposal is designed to protect owners of liquor stores and bars who face fines and license suspensions if they provide liquor to underage drinkers. Robinson said.
One such owner, Ace Johnson, of The Sanctuary, 1401 W. Seventh St., tried to recoup the amount he was fined but failed. The state Court of
Appeals ruled against Johnson on March 12. Johnson was fined after Ronald M. Smith, then an underage KU student, was caught drinking in The Sanctuary in fall 1986.
Robert Davis, one of the appellate judges, wrote that the court's opinion was based upon a state statute forbidding bars to "knowingly or unknowingly" permit minors to drink on their premises.
Johnson originally sued Smith in small claims court, winning a $500 award.
Smith then appealed in Douglas County District Court, which overturned the small claims award to Johnson. The Court of Appeals affirmed the district court ruling in its March 12 decision.
Johnson said he would not appeal the decision to the state Supreme
Court. He said he was satisfied forcing Smith to pay legal fees.
"These kids seem to think they can do anything they damn well please, and that's what I was trying to do, to show them something can and will happen to them," Johnson said.
Smith said his lawyer's teens exceeded the original fine, but the money wasn't important.
Stout, who has not yet made a court appearance, said she would not be deterred from drinking.
"I have two years now before I'm legally able to drink," she said. "Like, I'm going to wait two years before I drink a beer. That's kind of ridiculous."
"They're busting people without thinking that they did the same thing when they were underage."
KU journalism professor David Dary, who studied printing in high school, said Miller's was one of the
can do with open admissions. "Robert Lineberry, dean of the Col.
See ADMIF, n. 6, col. 5