The Chattanooga Beer Board came down hard Thursday morning on the Kangaroo Express at Jenkins and Shallowford roads east of Hamilton Place mall and gave it a 10-day suspension of beer sales for the May 30 sale of beer to a minor.
The convenience store's new general manager blamed the sale on a recently hired female clerk who thought she made a mistake when the underage police decoy's identification caused a new cash register to read: "invalid format."
Beer board members countered that the clerk could have compared the birth date on the customer's ID to an age-of-purchase calculator on display near the register.
"She could have looked at the license and determined that," beer board member Andre Harriman said. "I think your excuses are moot."
Beer board member Trevor Atchley called the excuse that the clerk didn't understand how to use the equipment "the worst excuse I could imagine."
Beer board members worried there was a lack of training at the Kangaroo Express at 2300 Jenkins Road and at other Kangaroo Express stores run by the same owner. Beer board member Chris Keene made a motion for a 10-day suspension to "get the owner's attention." The beer board voted 5-1 in favor of the suspension that begins Aug. 10, with member James Hobbs opposed.
The beer board discussed a bar simply called The Bar at 4904 Rossville Blvd. after Chattanooga police Officer John Collins said that, acting on a tip, the police department's vice unit discovered illegal gambling, liquor sold without a license, and building code violations there.
The bar's owner has "severe health issues," Collins told the beer board, and his daughter had been running it, but she bowed out to take care of her father. So now the bar's being run by a woman who's a family friend who's trying to keep the business afloat, Collins said.
"The bar is like a train on the track without a driver," said beer board member Lee Dear, who made a motion for a 30-day suspension of beer sales, which didn't get seconded.
The beer board split with a 3-3 vote on a three-day suspension. Then, at Atchley's suggestion, the board decided to postpone any action until its next meeting.