By AARON HUFF
Springville convenience store owners say teenagers will have fewer jobs due to a new city ordinance.
The ordinance, which went into effect Feb. 24, says clerks must be at least 21 years old is the store sells beer or alcohol.
“It’s a sad thing. They’re taking away jobs that are available for high-school kids,” said Afton Johnson, who owns Brookside Service on 410 South 400 East.
Fifteen of Brookside’s 27 employees are teenagers, she said.
Before Springville City Council members passed the new ordinance on Feb. 8, Springville teenagers could sell beer as long as a 21-year-old was on the premises, said city recorder Jo Evans.
In December, the Springville City Council agreed something had to be done after Springville police cited 12 clerks from ten different stores for selling beer to minors.
In January, the council did not renew the liquor licenses of 10 of its 13 stores licensed to sell beer and alcohol. The council subsequently agreed to re-issue the licenses based on stricter guidelines.
The Council established a “three strikes, you’re out” ordinance, which will permanently revoke liquor licenses from stores caught selling beer to minors more than three times in one year.
On Feb. 8, the council decided, by a narrow margin, that only those 21-years of age or older are legally able to sell beer. Owners from Springville store’s with liquor licenses were not present at the meeting.
During a council meeting on Feb. 8, council members Fritz Boyer and James Reed, who are retired military men, argued that if 18-year-old can fight for the country, they are old enough to sell beer.
“You have to look at more than age. The responsibility belongs to the owner,” Boyer said.
Council members Craig Conover, Dianne Carr and Keri Gordon voted to establish 21 as the new age requirement in the 3-2 decision.
All three agreed that teenagers should not be able to sell what they cannot legally consume.
Conover said peer pressure is a large reason why teenage clerks sell beer to minors.
“Twenty-one-year-olds are less apt to sell beer to minors. There is no way 14, 15, and 16-year-olds are going to say no to friends,” he said.
Brookside owner Afton Johnson and Jan Searle, who owns Quick Stop on 460 South Main, said the city council has not solved the problem by changing the age requirement.
“We’ve been selling beer for 28 years, and had only six violations. The majority of teenagers do a pretty good job,” Johnson said.
During two sting operations in December, Springville police cited 12 clerks for selling beer to minors; of the twelve clerks, seven were over 21, said Springville police chief Scott Finlayson.
“I think the statistics prove that 18- year-olds are not more prone to peer pressure,” Johnson said.
Searle said that none of the City Council members have been in the convenience-store business, and, therefore, they do not understand how to solve the problem of beer sales to minors.
“They’re not going about it the right way,” she said.
