The St. Mary’s County Alcohol Beverage Board has fined Lighthouse Liquors in Charlotte Hall $500 for selling alcoholic beverages to an underage female police operative. The board also suspended an additional $500 fine if the establishment on Route 5 stays clean for three years.

Lighthouse Liquors was the only one of 20 establishments that failed a compliance check on September 26 conducted by St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office Corporal James Stone on September 26. Stone is the board’s alcohol enforcement coordinator.

Lighthouse Liquors licensees George Curtis and HeeYong Kwan along with the manager, Kwan’s son, appeared before the board and admitted the violation. None of the three were in the store at the time.

 According to a statement of facts presented by the board’s attorney James Tanavage, a clerk in the store asked the 17-year-old girl if she needed help finding anything. The girl presented a six pack of hard lemonade and the clerk asked her to show her ID, which she did.

The manager said the clerk misread the ID and thought she was old enough. But Stone showed the board a mockup of the state’s vertical driver’s license, similar to what the girl showed. The license clearly shows in red outline the date on which the driver turns 21.

The clerk, Joseph Byard, was recently fired and will have to appear in court to answer the charges of selling to a minor.

The manager said the store impresses upon employees the need to check IDs and there is a sign posted. But Board Chairman Moses Saldana said it was the licensee’s responsibility to make sure underage sales don’t happen. One of the conditions of the penalty was that the licensees attend the board’s Responsible Alcohol Server Program (RASP) training and suggested that all of the store’s employees also attend.

In another action the board fined Cheeseburger in Paradise in the Wildewood Center after the licensee admitted that four patrons observed by Stone consuming beer on the sidewalk outside the restaurant. The fine was $500, but $250 was suspended if there are no violations for the next three years. The manager said more signs were posted and employees were given additional training. The licensee, Christine Basham, will have to attend RASP training. Stone also offered to do training for all the employees at the restaurant.

The board also approved:

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