Liquor
license gets hammered at The Nugget
Jeff
Overley/ Daily Forty-Niner
Patrons
of The Nugget will have to stick to soda
until the establishment will once again
be able to sell alcohol.
By
Betsy Truberg
Daily Forty-Niner
The
Nugget, an alcohol-serving restaurant on
campus, is currently prohibited from selling
alcoholic beverages because of a 15-day
alcoholic beverage license suspension it
received due to an incident that occurred
last semester in which The Nugget was found
serving alcohol to minors, according to
the district administrator of the California
Department of Alcoholic Beverage, Richard
Henry.
On
May 22 of this year, undercover investigators
were sent to The Nugget to determine if
alcohol was being served to minors, Henry
said. The investigators found that some
minors were being allowed to purchase or
consume alcoholic beverages.
“Eight arrests were made for illegal
consumption or purchase of alcohol,”
Henry said. “We were able to tie in
responsibility for sales or permission of
consumption to minors, which is why we suspended
their license.”
Clint
Campbell, director of retail food service
operations at Cal State Long Beach, argued
that the eight arrests were not within the
building and had nothing to do with the
suspension.
“The
individuals had taken beverages outside
to the patio, which they weren’t supposed
to do,” he said. Campbell said that
the suspension was issued because alcohol
was sold to a minor at The Nugget.
Henry
said the eight arrests were “directly
responsible” for the suspension. He
explained that facilities serving alcohol
are responsible for the alcoholic consumption
occurring within them even if the alcohol
was sold legally.
“It depends on the circumstances,”
he said. “If a 19-year-old is sipping
alcohol in the corner and the workers have
no possible way to know, that’s one
thing. But when underage drinking can be
seen and the workers take no action, that’s
another story.”
Another
cause for the license suspension was that
the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control
found The Nugget had a 19-year-old alcoholic
beverage server, Henry said. “An 18-year-old
can serve alcohol if food is his or her
primary responsibility. We’re alleging
that the 19-year-old was strictly serving
alcohol.”
The
Nugget, which serves beer and other malted
beverages such as hard lemonade, will not
be permitted to serve alcohol between Nov.
13 and Nov. 28. The Department of Alcoholic
Beverage Control was flexible with The Nugget
in finding a convenient time for the suspension
to occur.
“It
was delayed because they had prepaid catering
parties planned during the summer,”
Henry said. “The Nugget could choose
the particular time for the suspension that
worked best.”
“The
Nugget has been serving alcohol for over
30 years,” Campbell said. “This
is the first time there’s been a problem.”
To
prevent future problems of underage alcohol
purchases, The Nugget began using an electronic
identification verification device during
the summer, Campbell said.
“Each
ID swiped is read to verify whether the
individual is 21 or not,” he said.
After the ID card is swiped, a Nugget employee
will check the picture to ensure it matches
the cardholder, he explained.
Student
Aubrey Sareal, 21, said a co-worker of hers
recently was arrested by an undercover police
officer for underage drinking when she was
caught drinking her older sister’s
alcoholic beverage at The Nugget.
Some
students, such as Tara Collins, 20, do not
think such drastic measures of enforcement
are necessary.
“We’re
in college so maybe they don’t need
to be so strict,” Collins said. “But
I understand because it’s the law.”
“The
Nugget has been serving alcohol for over
30 years. This is the first time there’s
been a problem.”
— Clint Campbell, director retail
food services
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