The Odessa Record -

Garrett Marvin, an officer with the Liquor and Cannabis Control Board of Washington state, was in Odessa Tuesday to present a tutorial on the rights and obligations of servers of alcohol. The two main issues of concern in terms of compliance with state laws are checking identification to ensure that alcohol is not sold to minors (anyone under the age of 21) and determining when a customer might be over-served (sold or given more alcohol while already obviously inebriated).

Most information related to providing a safe and liability-free environment for an event is readily available on the Internet, but the main issues are highlighted below.

Employee drinking

According to the training provided by the ServSafe program of the National Restaurant Association, “No employee or licensee may drink beverage alcohol while working on the job. Employees who are drinking cannot effectively judge a guest’s age or state of sobriety. Exceptions are made for entertainers under the following guidelines:

A) Alcohol service must be monitored by MAST (Mandatory Alcohol Server Training) servers;

B) Drinks must be served in unlabeled containers;

C) Entertainers may not advertise any alcohol brands or products;

D) Entertainers may not promote drink specials; and

E) If any member of the entertainment group is under 21 years of age, alcohol may not be consumed by any member of the group while performing.”

Checking ID

Require first of all that the customer take the ID out of his/her wallet to ensure proper readability. Look at the date of birth. For this weekend’s event, for example, anyone presenting an ID with a birth date after April 6, 1997 or April 7, 1997 for Friday and Saturday, respectively, will be denied service.

Unacceptable forms of identification are birth certificates, school or work identification cards, social security cards, professionally printed ID cards and alien residency (green) cards.

Canadian IDs are accepted but not those from any other foreign country. Passports are accepted.

Overservice

If a customer is stumbling, slurring his/her speech, leaning, drooling or exhibiting other signs of being obviously intoxicated, the server is required to deny service of alcohol to that person. Non-alcoholic beverages may be served. Other persons supplying alcohol to that person will be warned to desist. If they do not, both can be ejected from the location. If the server is aware that the person is likely to get into a vehicle to drive home after being ejected, law enforcement must be informed. County and local law enforcement personnel will be providing additional security at the Desert 100 event. Promptly alerting law enforcement of potential problems is the duty of all servers.

Firearms

Firearms are not allowed in a “licensed event area.” Even those with valid concealed-carry permits may not carry in areas where liquor is being served under license by the Liquor and Cannabis Board.

Shuttle bus

The Rocky Coulee Brewing Co.’s shuttle bus will run between the Desert 100 camp site and Odessa at irregular intervals. No alcohol of any kind is allowed on the shuttle bus.