The Alliance of Southwest Missouri and Community Partnership of the Ozarks will host a training for local retailers ahead of planned alcohol compliance checks.
The 90-minute training is free and designed for anyone who sells alcohol products, including business owners, managers, clerks and bartenders. Owners and managers are encouraged to attend with their employees, the Joplin-based alliance said.
The training sessions will be held at 10 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 18, at the Joplin Public Library conference rooms.
The alcohol compliance checks will be conducted soon in the Joplin area by the Joplin Police Department with support from the Joplin Area Safe Teens Coalition.
The purpose of these checks, alliance officials said, is to assess the level of availability of alcohol in the community and prevent the sale of alcoholic beverages to minors.
As part of the checks, underage buyers working under the supervision of law enforcement will enter businesses and attempt to purchase alcoholic beverages. Employees and employers who are caught selling alcohol to minors will be cited, and the case will be referred to law enforcement for prosecution, the alliance said.
The maximum penalty for selling alcoholic beverages to minors in Missouri is a misdemeanor punishable by up to $1,000 in fines and up to one year in jail.