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Show Bountiful suspends beer licenses BvTOMHARALDSKN Clipper Correspondent BOUNTIFUL Logic won out over sentiment Wednesday night when the Bountiful City Council voted to suspend the Class B liquor licenses of two convenience conve-nience stores. Beer sales have been suspended until 12:01 a m. on July 4 at Circle K. 458 N. 500 West and Hardy's Enterprises, 280 W. 500 South, after both stores were found guilty of making illegal sales of beer to minors during Bountiful's traditional tradi-tional spot checking during March. Those "sentences" could have been much stiffer, however. Under the city ordinance, beer licenses are usually suspended for 30 days, which would have extended the suspension past the July 4th holiday, holi-day, one of the busiest days of the year for beer sales in Utah. But the representatives of both stores who appeared before the council Wednesday night had two things going for them. First, the hearings on the suspensions had originally been scheduled for May 22, but were tabled due to a mix up within the city offices. So the mood among the three council members present was that the delay had further fur-ther penalized the stores involved. Second, and perhaps the most important, was the attitude of rep resentatives of both convenienc stores. Lana Nixon, a Circle K corporate cor-porate officer from its Salt Lakt City regional office, set the tone foi the hearings by telling council "We have nothing to stand on, oui employee violated the law anc we're prepared to pull the beer ofl our shelves at midnight tomorrow night." She explained that Circle K put! each new employee through an ex tensive training program that emphasizes em-phasizes the importance of seeking identification from customers or beer sales. She also explained thai each store in the chain has a liquoi log which records sales of all alcoholic beverages. ; In the case of her store, two separate violations, one last ; September and one in March, had r led to Wednesday's hearing. In both , cases, the sales clerk on duty at the r time had been terminated. Nixon I F stated that Circle K's intention was t "to pull the beer off the shelf, live with the 30-day suspension and get j on with business and operate within the law." r ; Mayor Pro Tern Harold Shafter, i along with council members Barbara Bar-bara Holt and Leslie Foy (the only three members present Wednesday 1 SEE BEER ON A-4 BEER CONTINUED FROM A-1 night), all voiced appreciation for Nixon's attitude regarding the suspension. Though Councilman Foy was originally opposed to moderating the 30-day suspension, stating, "I'm uncomfortable with the sale of beer during a holiday when so many people are driving," he eventually even-tually supported a motion made by Holt and seconded by Shafter which shortened that suspension to 28 days. Shafter added that the change in suspension was due to the delay I caused by the city in bringing the issue to the council, and not due to the pending holiday. The Hardy's Enterprises suspension suspen-sion was handled exactly the same way, with a company spokesman pointing out that of the firm's 46 stores in Utah, the Bountiful location loca-tion was the only one where beer sales violations had been reported. Beer will be off the shelves in that , store as well until just after mid- night July 4. i |