Wineries receive three citations

 

Three citations were issued Feb. 16 by the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Department to clerks at two wineries for selling alcohol to a minor. The citations were issued following a warning at the beginning of the year that law enforcement would be cracking down on wineries and restaurants in Santa Barbara County.

Foxen Winery, at 7200 Foxen Canyon Road in Santa Maria, received two citations, and Roblar Winery, at 3010 Roblar Ave. in Santa Ynez, was issued one citation after clerks at the two wineries sold alcohol to a decoy minor during an operation conducted by Sheriff’s deputies and the Alcoholic Beverage Control agents. Law enforcement visited 12 other locations and all refused to sell alcoholic beverages to a minor.

 

Sheriff’s Department Public Information Officer Sgt. Alex Tipolt said in a press release that the decoy operation was conducted throughout the county and that future decoy operations are expected to be conducted during the year.

The clerks face a minimum fine of $1,000 and up to 32 hours of community service. The ABC also will be pursuing administrative action against the wineries, which could include a fine of up to $10,000 and a 30-day suspension of their alcohol license, or even permanent revocation of the license.

Tipolt said the Sheriff’s Department has created an educational program detailing alcohol laws that pertain to tasting rooms to instruct staff at the wineries. The class also discusses signs of intoxication, how to properly check identification, and other topics that are particular to a tasting room’s daily operations. The class is the only one of its kind being taught to winery staff in the state, Tipolt added. So far, more than 300 employees at 50 different wineries in the county have taken the class.

 

The decoy operation is funded by a grant, awarded in July 2007 from the ABC Grant Assistance Program, and includes alcohol education for the businesses and inspections of the premises.

In addition to the Sheriff’s Department program, the California Highway Patrol in Santa Barbara County recently was awarded a $658,000 grant by the California Office of Traffic Safety to participate in a program titled “STOP DUI II,” which is specific to wineries within Santa Barbara County, with the goal of reducing the number of alcohol-related fatality and injury collisions occurring in the county by using enforcement and education.

Officer Don Clotworthy, public access officer with CHP, said in a press release that the grant will use the combined efforts of the three county CHP offices — Santa Barbara, Buellton and Santa Maria — in partnership with the Santa Barbara County Vintner’s Association to organize a campaign that will target individuals who go wine tasting or attend wine-related events and then drive.

 

He said there are more than 90 wineries in Santa Barbara County that have tasting rooms.

The CHP will announce when classes will be held at a press conference Feb. 29 in Buellton. Clotworthy added that recent investigation of driving-under-the-influence-related arrests and traffic collisions shows that a number of the involved drivers had visited wine tasting facilities prior to their contact with law enforcement and that one objective of the grant is to promote the Designated Driver Program.

During 2008, funds from the grant will be used to cover overtime when officers conduct two sobriety/drivers license checkpoints and deploy DUI roving enforcement patrols within Santa Barbara County.

Enforcement and education activities will be conducted through December 31. Funding for the program is provided by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.