By AIYANA BAIDA

Highlands Today

Published: June 4, 2010

SEBRING - The consequences to serving alcohol to minors can put an establishment out of business and servers behind bars.

With tough laws against serving alcohol to minors, bartenders and servers have to know what to look for.

Bartender Gail Gillotti has seen and heard it all. She can spot the best of the best of fake IDs without a flinch.

"It's pretty easy to tell a fake," Gillotti said.

She's been serving patrons drinks at the Why Not Lounge in Sebring for 12 years. After 8 p.m. no one under 21 years old is allowed, so bar employees card everyone, even 40- and 50-year-olds.

"Nowadays it's hard to tell how old they are," Gillotti said.

Shooter's bartender Christy Vietmeier says that fake IDs and patrons trying to pass as over 21 with someone else's ID are common.

"It happens all the time," Vietmeier said.

But she's learned ways to distinguish a fake through the numbers on a driver's license.

That's what bartenders, managers and restaurant employees learned from Drug Free Highlands' Alcohol Vendor Training session on Wednesday.

These vendors learned that stopping underage drinking by properly checking an ID can save their job, their establishment and a life.

"You have an awful number of people who can come into your establishment and question you," said Michael McClain, president of SERVE Program, a company that educates vendors and employees on alcohol beverage laws.

McClain gave tips on what key numbers on a driver's license to look for and what they mean, how to distinguish fakes and "when in doubt don't."

Years ago McClain said his son's life almost ended because of a 19-year-old drunk driver.

The bartender did not check for identification and the 19-year-old girl ended up driving southbound in a northbound lane. She ultimately met McClain's son in a head-on collision.

His son was in a coma and in intensive care for nine weeks. Since the accident his son has recovered and the girl has undergone several facial surgeries and walks with a limp, McClain said.

"The whole thing was predicated on that no one asked her for ID," he said.

For Vanessa Logsdon, executive director of Highlands Little Theatre, the session was an eye opener. She's going to pass on the training to the theatre's volunteers and make employees more aware of the consequences, especially those who work receptions at the theatre's lounge.

"I am better prepared," Logsdon said.

Establishments that serve alcohol to minors face losing their liquor license and paying hefty fines, servers face a second-degree misdemeanor, 60 days in jail and a $500 fine.

"We are going to be out running stings. Nothing would make us happier than to have zero arrests," said Capt. Jeff Barfield from the Highlands County Sheriff's Office.

At Duffers Sports Grille in Sebring, manager Ross Vickers is aware of the problem and makes it a point that patrons entering the bar see signs that state underage drinking is not tolerated.

"We're pretty hot on that topic. We are dead set against serving people underage," Vickers said.

Highlands Today reporter Aiyana Baida can be reached at 863-386-5855 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Source:  http://www2.highlandstoday.com/content/2010/jun/04/la-preventing-underage-drinking/news/