Roses & Raspberries

Dave Hart - The Chapel Hill News

Roses to Allison Finch, the Chapel Hill police officer who runs a program that teaches employees of bars and restaurants how to stay within the law when they serve alcohol.

The program is called BARS, for Be A Responsible Server, and it's a good one.

Bartenders and waits bear a sober responsibility, if you'll excuse the pun, to serve only those people who are legally allowed to drink -- meaning people who are at least 21 and not already drunk. Sounds pretty simple, but on any busy night it requires a lot of judgment calls, made very quickly: Is this driver's license legit, or is it a good fake? Is that customer so tipsy that it's time to cut him off, or is he OK for one more?

Given the consequences of bad calls on those decisions -- which can range from legal charges to the loss of a liquor license to the truly tragic, if a drunk customer gets behind the wheel -- it makes sense to give the people who make them some advanced training.

That's what Finch does. She educates bar and restaurant employees about the law. She cautions them about employees drinking in the workplace. She shows them how to spot fake IDs.

Finch and BARS perform a valuable service. Now if we could just get everybody to sign up for BARD -- Be A Responsible Drinker -- we'd really be getting somewhere.