STERLING – A local liquor store received a warning from the city Wednesday for a reported liquor code violation.
Joe’s Liquor & Tobacco, 203 E. Second St., had a public hearing before the Sterling Liquor Control Commission on a report of a liquor sale involving a 20-year-old Chadwick man.
Sterling police sent the commission a liquor code violation report after the minor mentioned buying the alcohol at Joe’s while telling police he was robbed in Rock Falls after leaving the liquor store.
According to the commission’s report, the minor told police he had already bought cigarettes at Joe’s on Nov. 30, and when he tried to also purchase alcohol, he was denied because the clerk thought he was underage. A friend of legal age who was with the minor then told the clerk he wanted to buy the alcohol. The sale was then made to the friend, but it was done on the minor’s credit card.
The transaction included two cartons of cigarettes and a bottle of cognac totaling $163.75.
The liquor commission contended that because the clerk witnessed the manner in which the purchase occurred, the sale should not have been made.
The commission said a warning was issued because it was the first offense for Joe’s, which opened last summer.
The three-member commission is made up of Mayor Skip Lee, and City Council members Joe Martin and Retha Elston.