No excuses for businesses that serve minors

It may take a village to raise a child, but it would be even better if that village had businesses that looked out for its youth.

Unfortunately, we learn time after time that Carson City comes up short by at least one measure. It became clear again last week when five Carson City businesses were caught serving alcohol to minors.

It was part of a compliance check by the Sheriff's Department, the same compliance checks that have been happening since 2003. Yet every time they send the underage decoys into businesses, they frequently come out with booze. Out of 626 checks since 2003, 125 people have been cited.

It's not like this should be a difficult task to accomplish. All servers must do is ask for and check the identification of young people.

But the message doesn't seem to be getting out there, despite the checks and training sessions by the department. In 2005, officers stated their goal was to find no violations during compliance checks, but that has not yet happened.

It leads to the logical question of whether a $632 fine is a strong enough message. Maybe the city needs to look at not only larger fines, but stronger penalties that could even lead to the loss of liquor licenses for repeat offenders.

We congratulate those 13 businesses that passed the test, and those that take it seriously enough to fire employees caught serving to minors.

Recent youth surveys have brought some good news, showing that youth are drinking less than they used to. That's a trend the city should capitalize on by demonstrating there is no tolerance here for those businesses that don't comply with the law.