Testimony from bar and club owners and workers has convinced Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham to see the error of his ways and loosen penalties for bars found serving to minors. Marc Fisher writes that the D.C. Council took up his proposal at the December 16 meeting after tentatively approving the measure in November.

That would mean a drop from a zero-tolerance penalty ($1,000 fine plus two-day liquor license suspension) for first-time offenses to a warning — which Alcohol Beverage Control Board chairman Peter Feather calls “one of the lightest penalties for this type of offense” in the nation. Graham said that he didn’t believe that individual staff errors should cause “respectable places like Lauriol Plaza . . . to be shut down.” (Which only goes to show, even when Graham gets it right he’s still sort of got it wrong. Shutting down Lauriol Plaza equals justice for all.)

It never made any sense for the D.C. Council to be in the business of managing bar employees. A more reasonable rule (such as the one that will govern D.C. for the next year as an experiment) would provide a warning so as to tease out the lazy or merely mistaken bartenders from the habitual offenders. That puts the onus of enforcement on bar employers, where it belongs. Where bar owners and managers are negligent, repeat offenders will prove.

Graham has never shown a good grip on age restrictions. As Julian Sanchez observed nearly a year ago, Graham pushed for legislation barring minors from clubs where liquor is served after teenager Telishia Ford was shot in one. But of course the principal concern was never that people should be age 21 before they are eligible to be shot at clubs.

Fans of justice, underage shows, and reasonable restrictions for bar owners may applaud this legal turn to the light side. But if they want the new rules to stick, underage advocates will need to start lobbying their local ANC representatives now. The new rule applies to the next year alone, at which time it is subject to ANC reversal — without so much as a Councilmember signature — should the underage-opposed ANC decide that they do not prefer the new way.

Photo used with permission under a Creative Commons license with Flickr user tantek