Scott City Council to extend liquor licenses to stores that sold to minors

The Scott City Council will keep a close watch on two businesses after the stores repeatedly sold alcohol to minors.

The council voted 7 to 0 Wednesday night to extend liquor licenses for Larry's Store 24 on Main Street and Rhodes Travel Center on Nash Road until Oct. 2 with several stipulations.

If either store is caught selling alcohol to minors during that time, their liquor licenses will be revoked. Each store must also send all current and future employees to training workshops on recognizing minors trying to purchase alcohol.

In addition, Larry's, owned by Larry and Reba Abbott, must install a system on its cash registers that requires birth date verification for liquor sales. Rhodes recently installed such a system at its Nash Road store, owned by Gene Rhodes.

The review of the liquor licenses, which involved a public hearing Wednesday night, was called for by the council after each business failed several times in alcohol sale compliance checks that began last November.

Larry's failed the checks four out of six times since November, while Rhodes Travel Center failed three times.

The next highest amount of failures was Casey's General Store, with two. All businesses were checked six times.

Reba Abbott represented the Main Street store while Donna Sharley represented Rhodes Travel Center. Both cited high traffic as a reason for failure and confusion between dates for lawful sales of tobacco and alcohol among clerks.

Other action:

* The council voted 7 to 0 to outlaw the discharge of fireworks from inside or on the roof of any building, lighting fireworks at or onto another's property without consent and to outlaw flying fireworks on sticks, like bottle rockets, inside city limits.

* The council voted 7 to 0 to accept the plat of the Kim Estes subdivision.

* The council gave verbal agreement to allow youth in the city to use the city parking lot by the old caboose as a hang-out spot on a trial basis. Those who use the lot must keep it clean or privileges will be revoked.

msanders@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182