Two minors working for the Cortez police were able to buy beer recently at numerous local outlets, including two places where additional alleged illegal sales were made only about a month after their clerks were cited for earlier alleged offenses, Cortez Police Chief Roy Lane said.

Lane said that especially in light of a similar sting operation two years ago, he was surprised to discover how easy it still was for teens to obtain beer.

"We’d been hearing it wasn’t hard to buy booze, so we decided to see what could be done" before the impending high-school proms and graduation parties in the area, he explained.

"Every spring we seem to have a tragic accident involving kids and alcohol and we’ve got to get a handle on it."

At several stores the undercover operatives —men ages 18 and 19 —were sold beer after their IDs had been checked by the clerks, Lane said, and at one —City Market —a clerk allegedly overrode the cash register to make the sale after the minor’s driver’s license was rejected.

Clerks at four other businesses — Eagle Claw, Conoco Corners, Wal-Mart Superstore, and the Circle S Convenience Store — also went through the motions of verifying that the minors were of legal age before making the sales, he said.

Other businesses where clerks received citations for alleged sales to minors included E-Z Mart, Texaco Amigo Mart, HandyMart, and Liquid Assets.

"It bothers me that so many (clerks) checked their IDs and then went ahead and sold," he added.

Lane pointed out that within the last month (six weeks), the "typical-looking" young men had been able to purchase alcohol at about half the places where they tried. He estimated that the men tried to buy alcohol at about 20 stores in all.

"That’s a terrible ratio — just awful," he said.

Clerks at both the Circle S Liquor Store and the adjacent Circle S Convenience Store were cited for illegal sales to minors on two recent occasions, Lane said, which tends to cast doubt on last weekend’s sales being isolated incidents.

Robert Moffit, the owner of the Circle S stores, declined comment Tuesday, saying through a spokeswoman that he wanted to talk to his attorney first. Jim Berhost, the manager of City Market in Cortez, also declined to comment on the allegations, saying that corporate regulations prohibit him from discussing any activities related to the store.

Managers of the other stores who could be contacted attributed the alleged illegal sales to human error.

"Our policy is that we card anyone who comes in that doesn’t look 40 years old," said E-Z Mart manager Mary Cook. "We card everyone for alcohol and cigarettes and the girl just made a mistake —her judgment was not good."

Connie Gurney, manager of Conoco Corners, said, "Our policy is to definitely not let that happen, but the cashiers are human and they sometimes make mistakes.

"I think it was just a matter of being busy and tired," she added, explaining that the clerk realized only after the police agent left the store that, according to his ID, the agent wasn’t of legal age.

HandyMart manager Janet Stokley said she didn’t fault police for raising awareness of the need to clamp down on sales to minors, but added that "business owners can’t be there to take care of every single customer and reprimand every single employee. We have signs (throughout the store) that say nobody after a certain year can buy cigarettes or alcohol.

"We do everything we can, but you can’t be here all the time, and employees don’t look or they miscalculate —it happens.

"It’s the law and needs to be enforced —I agree with that — but especially when you’re busy — and they do this on Friday and Saturday nights — and you’re flying around the store, you don’t always check everything as good as you should."

Wal-Mart Superstore manager Brice Carruth said that all checkers are given extensive training in assuring illegal sales of alcohol and cigarettes are not made.

"It will be handled by us at the store as far as our associate (clerk) once that comes up (in court)," Carruth said. "We’re very, very strict on this type of thing. This person was very familiar with the procedures and policies and she also knew we have no tolerance here for anyone who would violate that.

"This is something that we positively do not condone, nor do we allow."

Hearings on the alleged liquor-license violations could be held by either the city or the state, Lane explained, and penalties to businesses found in violation could range from loss or suspension of a liquor license to a fine or a letter of warning, depending on the circumstances and previous offenses. In addition, the individual clerks were all cited for sales of alcohol to minors, and face their own court proceedings.

A clerk’s arithmetic skills shouldn’t be a factor in determining if a customer is old enough, he said, since charts are available that can be changed daily and show the latest birthdate for a person of legal age —i.e., 21 years before the current date.

"When in doubt, don’t sell, because it isn’t worth the fines and sanctions on a license," Lane said.

"We’re going to continue doing this until people comply."

During the March 3 sting, only West Slope Liquors and Cork ’n ’Bottle refused to sell the teen agent beer, according to Lane, while HandyMart, Liquid Assets, Cork ’n’ Bottle and West Slope Liquors refused illegal sales during the April 7 operation.