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6. The officer accompanying the underage customer was an adult Adults should share some responsibility in allowing underage persons to drink, says Mr. Sukhtipyaroge. I believe five of these six arguments are easily answered. Whether liquor sales make up 1%or 20% of one's business, one n�ust comply with i:l�� laws governing the sale of liquor. And though it is excellent that Mr. Sulchtipyaroge has had no previous violations in Roseville or Minneapolis, that fact is already taken into account in the penalty schedule established by our elected officials; the penalty for a first violation is less harsh than the penalties for additional violations. I clo appreciate that this is a family business and that Mr. Sukhtipyaro�e was in great need for a server that night. But the same si�uation can occur in corporate-owned restaurants serving alcohol. Regardless of the type of ownership or whether servers surprise the manager by not wishing to work a particular schedule, owners and managers must, under the law, make servers familiar with the state laws governing the sale of lic�uor, just as those servers are made familiar with the restaurant's menu and how the dishes are prepared. And it ought to make no difference to a server whether a customer is accompanied by an adult or not; it is illegal to serve underage persons with liquor whether they are with an adult, with a group of adults, with a group of juveniles, or alone. The argument that gives me the most hesitation involves the amo�.r1�� of the fine. Mr. Sukhtipyaroge says he can manage without selling alcohol on Friday, December 27, but the $500 fine is very harsh. He indicates he would pay a much larger fine for any future violations �: this fine could be forgiven or reduced this time, say to $100. I believe Mr. Sulchtipyaroge has learned a lesson from all this, and I hope there are no f�,�tu,re violations. _ However, for the following reasons I will not reduce or forgive the fine. — First, our elected officials already offer a voluntary program that allows business owners who sell liquor to reduce the fine for liquor violations. Mr. Sukhtipyaroge has chosen not to participate in that voluntary program. In addition, the violation here was flagrant; the server was given two ox- three chances to reconsider his decision to serve liquor to this underage customer. The underage customer even told the server he was only 19. Even if this server were new and distracted, repeated requests by the officer to the server to reconsider providing liquor to this customer, and the customer's own admission to the server that he was only 19, gave more than fair notice to the server to checl� this customer's identification. �