BATON ROUGE – Following the death of 19-year-old LSU student Madison Brooks after a night of heavy drinking, many agree that something needs to be done to put an end to underage drinking in the capital area.
At Wednesday’s Metro Council meeting, many ideas were recommended, from better technology to spot fake IDs to even banning those under 21 from entering bars all together.
But Councilwoman Denise Amoroso says these ideas likely won’t make an impact. She has another idea.
“One of the things that needs to be done is up fines for the bar owners that serve underage kids,” Amoroso said.
Thursday, the Alcohol Beverage and Control (ABC) Board seemed to agree. Under new guidelines, the board upped fines in many cases. One of the fines that was raised was for failure to check for lawful identification, holding a $500 to $600 penalty.
They also increased the fine for a person under 21 drinking at an establishment from $500 to $750.
But these guidelines could vary. Board members told WBRZ these are just suggestions to follow, and the penalty could change case by case depending on the number of offenses, or how severe an offense is.
We’re told these new guidelines will give board members more solutions to hold bars that are breaking the rules accountable.
We reached out to members of the ABC Board for comment, but none wanted to do an on-camera interview.
Leave a Reply