Ellington

Several Red Bank stores were recently fined by the city’s beer board for selling beer to a minor working with the Red Bank Police Department.

Officer Michael Ray, who was involved with the citations, said police and the undercover minor visited every store in the city selling beer or liquor aside from Signal View Liquors, which was already closed.

“We had a 19-year-old female go in with a state-issued ID,” he said.

Ray said the clerk working at Dollar General, located at 4707 Dayton Blvd., told the minor she was not old enough to purchase alcohol. He said the minor told the clerk she was 19 and he sold her beer anyway.

The minor delivered the beer and change to officers waiting outside, and police refunded the money for the beer and cited the clerk on the spot.

Store owner Kevin Giannunzio, who did not attend the meeting of the beer board, was fined $500 and cited a separate violation for his failure to appear. His permit to sell beer was not revoked.

Kangaroo Express at 3200 Redding Road, owned by Charlie Adkins, was represented at the meeting by attorney Chris Oliver, who said several years have passed since it has been before the board.

“We take this very seriously,” he said, adding that the decade-long employee who sold alcohol to the minor had been terminated.

Oliver said the employee had completed the eight hours of training required by the company as part of the Responsible Vendor Program administered by the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission. Due to the store’s participation in the program, the board did not have the option to suspend its license. The board instead imposed a $250 fine.

Ray said the minor told the clerk at Sav-A-Ton, located at 5216 Dayton Blvd., her age before he sold her a 24-ounce beer. Store owner Dhiren Patel, who has had a license to sell beer for 12 years and has no previous violations, said when the minor told the clerk her age he thought she was referring to the beer’s price.

Sav-A-Ton, which could have been penalized with a five-day suspension of its license or up to a $500 fine, received a $250 fine. Mayor Monty Millard recommended the owner look into a state-approved formal training program to help prevent similar occurrences in the future.