Sheriff inquiry prompts state to nix alcohol kiosks
St. Patrick’s Day is a big day in Butte. In fact, one person recently published a book listing the top 100 places in the United States for celebrating one thing or another, and the author included Butte’s St. Patrick’s Day as a favorite.
On the other hand, things have been known to get a little wild during the "Wearin’ of the Green." In recent years, the Butte-Silver Bow Sheriff's Department has been working hard to cut down on under-age drinking, public drunkenness and similar issues.
Uptown Butte bar owners for years have been allowed to construct and operate bar kiosks on sidewalks in front of their businesses as a means to better accomodate the demands of the throngs, but also to relieve congestion within their premises.
So some of them were shocked to recieve a memo at 4 p.m. Friday, March 13, just one business day prior to the big event, from Jason Wood, Bureau Chief for Liquor Licensing at the state’s Liquor Control Division.
That memorandum stated, in part, “Montana law requires all alcoholic beverages be sold and served from your licensed premises as approved on your floor plan on file with the department. It is unlawful to sell or serve alcohol from the sidewalk or street in front of your business.” Butte does not have an open container law, so customers can go into an establishment to purchase beverages and then take their drinks outside while taking in the festivities.
Ray Ueland, owner of the Metals Bank Sports Pub and Grill, told the Montana Tavern Times he thought the timing - the lack of adequate notice - was unfair. Some bar owners had spent time and money constructing the kiosks and had ordered inventories of products and ice to match the expected sales. Staffing schedules and levels were predictably fouled up, too.
Wood told Tavern Times that the reminder from his office was based on a request from Butte-Silver Bow Sheriff John Walsh. Wood also came to a St. Patrick’s Day law enforcement planning meeting to explain the requirements.
Sheriff Walsh said the issue of setting up outside booths for alcohol beverage sales came up in planning for this year’s enforcement activities. “I told my officers that I didn’t know if this was legal or not, but I’d find out. That’s how we found that state law clearly doesn’t permit selling outside the licensed premises.”
Prior to St. Patrick’s Day, Walsh recorded public service announcements that were broadcast from other Montana cities warning people that if they were not of legal age, they shouldn’t plan on drinking if they were coming to Butte, because police would be enforcing the laws and violators would be prosecuted. However, no Butte bar owner was aware of ever being told that sidewalk kiosks would be targeted.
While he has no statistical evidence, Walsh says, “My gut feeling is that it helped. Our minimum goal is that the word gets out around the region that we will enforce the laws here.”
The moral of the story? If you’re a Montana licensee and have been thinking of special promotions that involve selling alcohol outside the premises, better check the floor plan on file with the state before you run into future legal or business problems.
Source: The Montana Tavern Times,
April 2009, published monthly by Continental Communications, 125 W
Granite, Suite 102, Butte MT. 59701