John Millsap checks an ID as Punit Patel looks on Monday at Jax Liquor Store.With his white beard, lined face and gravelly voice, Gary Owens could pass for songwriter Kris Kristofferson’s younger brother.
No one would mistake him for a 20-year-old.
Yet since July 1, the 63-year-old North Chattanooga man has had to show his driver’s license to buy wine and liquor in Tennessee.
“It’s just one of many things in society that I have to tolerate – but it’s kind of ridiculous,” Owens said Thursday at the Vine Wine and Liquor store next to Whole Foods.
Universal carding for wine and liquor now is the norm in the Volunteer State.