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Zero Adult Providers The Cass County Sheriffs Office, Hubbard County Sheriff’s Office, Minnesota State Patrol,  Leech Lake Department of Public Safety and City Police Departments of Pine River, Backus, Walker, Akeley and Longville are working collaboratively with the Coalition in regards to underage drinking within our communities.  This philosophy is designed to fundamentally change the way law enforcement approach underage drinking parties. Instead of treating the party as a nuisance call where officers would merely send home anyone over the age of 21 and issue citations for minor consumption to anyone under 21, now the party is treated like a crime scene. It is a Gross Misdemeanor offense to provide alcohol to underage kids (besides your own child in your own home). A Gross Misdemeanor is punishable by up to a year in jail and/or up to a $3000 fine! Compliance Checks for Businesses We are working with our ZAP partners to conduct Alcohol Compliance Checks within our three school districts.  We believe that helping avoid law violations, such as selling alcohol to underage people; will help us avoid the problems associated with underage drinking. Underage individuals working with law enforcement may come into area business during the next few months to attempt to purchase alcohol. Staff caught selling alcohol to these underage individuals will be referred to the Cass County Attorney’s Office for criminal prosecution. Businesses where the sale to the underage buyers occurred will be referred to their liquor licensing issuer and may receive a civil penalty up to $2000 and/or their liquor license suspended or revoked. Reports on compliance check operations became public data under Minnesota State law, meaning the identity of businesses checked and the outcomes of each check can be obtained and published by the news media. Responsible Beverage Server Training Responsible Beverage Server Training (RBST) is being offered by the Working Together Coalition on an as needed basis every month. This training is also known as “server training”. The training will give an opportunity to educate owners, managers, servers and sellers of alcohol establishments about strategies to avoid illegally selling alcohol to underage youth or intoxicated patrons. The goal of the training is to help understand state, community and establishment-level alcohol policies and their potential consequences. This training is offered free of charge, but registration is required. The training will be conducted by Kelly Felton, Substance Abuse Prevention Specialist and local law enforcement agencies. Kelly Felton is a RBS Regional Trainer for the state of Minnesota. To schedule your employees for RBS training, or for more information, please contact Kelly at kelly@workingtogethercoalition.org or 218-330-8129. We want staff to refuse alcohol sales to underage buyers. We can offer the following tools to help ensure that your staff is familiar with the laws: Copies of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety Driver’s Licenses and Identification Cards (photo examples of proper IDs). At your request, we can send an officer to your establishment to give a 10-15 minute informational talk on the alcohol sales laws, responsibilities and consequences of serving someone underage.