Stopped in to have dinner at Applebys and the bar tender told us that there was an under cover sting at Texas Roadhouse. The poor waitress served someone an adult beverage without assuring they were going to dine. The POLICE were called and the waitress was ARRESTED and finger printed in the middle of TR while diners watched. The waitress was reportedly in tears (no duh) and completely humiliated. Wow, is this really necessary so the morg bots can exert their overpowering judgement and pressure on all others in the SLC Valley? Is that what they are going for? God, I am so happy I don't have to put up with that BS any more!

The waitress was serving the public, and the police weren't.

Exactly my thoughts!

My wife was at the Texas Roadhouse in Riverton, Utah when this happened (if this was the same event you are referring to). The police hired real people to go into TR and order alcoholic beverages without the intent of ordering food. The server failed to ask the customers if they would be eating at the restaurant, so she was arrested on the spot and escorted out of the store in tears. She was humiliated in front of all her coworkers and customers. She apparently had to pay a fine over $1000. Additionally, she is banned from ever being a server in Utah again.

All of this because of some stupid-ass lawmakers at Capitol Hill forcing everyone in this state to act like mormons. The liquor laws here are so incredibly stupid. Seriously, does it really matter if you have a drink without food? Why the fuck is this even a law? No wonder Utah is such a joke to civilized humanity in other states.


EDIT: I just confirmed with the first-hand witness (my wife) that the server was actually arrested for serving alcohol to a minor - not because of the lack of ordering food. Apologies for the misinformation.

See comment below. Another point: the stings are run by the state alcohol board, not the local police who generally didn't care about this law. (They may do underage stings, but that's a different situation.)

This particular sting was organized by the Unified Police Department (used to be the Salt Lake County sheriffs office). Police cars were waiting near the parking lot (at Lowe's) when the sting was occurring. They were just waiting for the tip from the paid customer. Whether the ABC was in on it or not, I don't know. But this seemed very similar to a prostitution bust.

Produce the police report.

The Salt Lake County sheriff's department still exists. The Unified Police Department is simply a combination of several city police departments.

I searched their site and found references to several narcotics busts and alcohol related accidents, but nothing on a raid at Texas Roadhouse.

I found this "A Unified Police Department officer is accused of filing paperwork falsely claiming to be working as many as three jobs or shifts at once..."

I also found this "LONGVIEW, TX (KLTV) - On July 1, 2011 the Longview Police Department, partnering with the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) and Longview Partners in Prevention (PIP), conducted off-premise minor stings at area retailers to validate compliance with Texas law prohibiting the sale of alcohol to minors."

Texas Roadhouse wasn't found in violation.

See my edit above. The server was actually arrested for serving alcohol to a minor.

It's still an overreaction. A thousand dollar fine, plus an arrest? In most states you receive a small civil fine, plus lose your license to serve alcohol. It's still an outrage. The rest of the country would be outraged if they heard about this. You don't write laws that send young waitresses to jail for screwing up, without pissing people off. It needs national attention. Only when the Mormons are shamed, and showed how stupid they are by outsiders, do they ever learn to behave.

You guys are so used to being screwed, you have no idea how abhorrent it looks to the rest of the nation.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/26/2013 09:23AM by forbiddencokedrinker.

because they didn't notice a problem with the customer's ID. The guy was over 21, but had a fake ID and they didn't catch it. This was also a sting operation.

The alcohol nazi's are very actively trying to catch people making even unintentional mistakes. The thing that bothers me is when they are actually trying to trick restaurant workers into making a mistake.

I could understand, if the restaurant didn't ASK for ID. Anything else should be a matter of a slap on the wrist and additional training.

BTW, in Utah (or at least in that restaurant), two people have to check the ID. That's more than what's required to get a controlled substance at the pharmacy, BTW.

They did not arrest either worker, but there were fines. And they lost their jobs (it was company policy). I know at least one of them still works in food services.

I think the sting operations are designed to make it very difficult for restaurants to serve alcohol in Utah.

What is this, make stuff up day?

Utah alcohol laws are stupid. But, get the facts straight. Until this year, you couldn't serve alcohol before the food. In 2012, the state alcohol board got their undies in a bunch and did stings. However, waiters weren't arrested, rather restauarants were cited and were fined (few got their liquore licenses suspended.)

The law was changed in 2013.

The law you are referring to is for bars and private clubs only.

Restaurants are still required to serve food with alcohol. In fact, many of them have little placards on each table that explain it to customers.

HB 240 was specifically about restaurants.

32B-6-205 (8) (a) A full-service restaurant licensee may not sell, offer for sale, or furnish an alcoholic product except after the full-service restaurant licensee confirms that the patron has the intent to order food prepared, sold, and furnished at the licensed premises.

In other words, the waiter simply needs to ask "do you intend to order food?" (Apparently, some restauarants won't allow you to order a drink before ordering food. That's their decision to make.)

Yeah, Utah liquor laws are dumb. Better than they used to be, but still dumb. But don't make up stuff about it; that's what the Mormon church does.

This has happened in Utah many times before.
It's yet another police setup.
the law says that you must order food in order to be able to order drinks.

This is real my DH and I were at Applebee's in Layton the table next to us ordered drinks the waiter showed them a card that had the law on it. He id'ed them and then the manager came over and scanned their licenses into some sort of card reader. To us that shows the extent that chain restaurants are having to go to to protect their liquor licenses. Its weird though because we went to a local steakhouse last night and had several drinks, we were not id'ed (we are well over 21) nor were we asked if we would be ordering food. Utah is ridiculous!!

Utah TBMs: They're all about small government until it interferes with enforcing their small-mindedness.

Very true (that's me above I forgot to login). My DH is not from here and he's a never mo so this crap never ceases to amaze him. Even though I was BIC we have both learned a ton from reading here. I finally decided to dive in and post.

Nice to "meet" you, horsegirl! Another thing that amazes me reading about this kind of Sharia law-style enforcement of Mormon norms via secular government is that the businesses -- the restaurants, bars, etc. -- don't pitch a serious fit about this. At least not that I've heard or read about yet. I mean that if some jack-off politican in my state CA, for example, would even float this type of crap as possible legislation, the Chamber of Commerce, the restaurant & hotel associations would pretty much bomb that guy's political career into the stone age I believe.

Utah is one of the most ultra-extreme states when it comes to alcohol consumption in the US. I don't understand how any adults could tolerate their alcohol laws.

Unfortunately, it's because 65% of the population votes for 90% of the legislature, which does anything the Church tells them to do. The remaining 35% only have 10% of the voice, which does not make a difference.

Why am I not surprised?!?!? What a bunch of BS on the part of the TBMs controlling the Utah legislature.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/26/2013 02:06AM by Tristan.

What you end up with is a tyranny of the majority.

When are people going to come out of their democracy cult?

I don't know if the above story is true, but I can tell you that I went to a Chilis in Orem, and sat at the bar. The server was adamant that I had to order food to get a single beer and if she didn't charge me, she could lose her job, get a significant fine and even be arrested after/for multiple violations.

It's crazy stupid, and the beer is watered down by most standards outside of Utah County.

This is why I bring my own booze to Utah...

Can you bring your own into a bar? I doubt that, and so they encourage people to drink alone at home instead of doing so in the open.

breedumyung Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> This is why I bring my own booze to Utah...


It is specifically illegal to bring liquor into the State of Utard. The law is not very enforceable, but they State troopers monitor cars with Utard plates coming from Wyoming. They used to send cops to the liquor and fireworks stores to collect tag numbers in Evanston, Wyoming, but I don't believe that that is allowed anymore due to complaints from Evanston businessmen.

Jesus Smith Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I don't know if the above story is true, but I can
> tell you that I went to a Chilis in Orem, and sat
> at the bar. The server was adamant that I had to
> order food to get a single beer and if she didn't
> charge me, she could lose her job, get a
> significant fine and even be arrested after/for
> multiple violations.
>
> It's crazy stupid, and the beer is watered down by
> most standards outside of Utah County.

It is true that you have to order food from restaurants before you can get a drink: "Alcohol beverage service in a licensed restaurant requires that you order food with your drink, that your beverage be delivered to your table or counter by your server, and that you consume your drink at or near the table or counter." http://abc.utah.gov/laws/law_faqs.html

Utard is a very theocratic, f*&^ed up state.

I was visiting Utah recently and my sisters were telling me about neighborhood meetings that were held to try to prevent a restaurant from opening in the Sugarhouse area of Salt Lake because they requested a liquor license. The objections were that this would attract drunk driving and drunk and disorderly behavior, and they didn't want that in the area. I tried to explain to one of my sisters that it is against the law for servers to serve anyone who is already apparently intoxicated. It is in the interest of a business to not have patrons get wasted. They can lose their license and be liable for accidents that happen. I think there is this mindset among Mormons that the point of drinking is to get completely drunk, and that anyone who drinks at all becomes an alcoholic. She said if my spouse were an alcoholic, wouldn't I want to prevent a business from a liquor license from opening nearby? I said it is always up to an individual to make their own choices, not have others make them for them. This coming from a sister who is adamantly against any form of gun control.

A couple of weeks ago a bunch of relatives and I went to Applebee's in Draper after my uncle's funeral. Waiting for us on the tables when we were seated were some very large cards describing the regulations about ordering alcohol:

"If you are going to order alcohol two conditions MUST be met: You must have a valid form of ID indicating that you are 21 or older, AND you must verbally tell the server that you intend to order food."

I've gone whitewater rafting, glacier climbing, rented mountain bikes, etc., and none of the legal paperwork was as in-your-face as that for ordering alcohol in Utah.

No crazier than what happened recently in Arizona.

Man takes picture at a game and briefly asks son to hold his cup of beer while doing so.
Mind you, the kid wasn't drinking any of it, just holding the cup for a few seconds.

I would be willing to bet it was Mormons who turned him in. Most other people would not care.

Nothing will change until Senator John Valentine retires, as he has a stranglehold on all legislation related to alcohol.

I have a freind who owns a 21+ restaraunt/pub in SLC. He has actually been cited by the DABC for selling beer that is illegal in Utah, yet supplied and sold by DABC. Yes, is makes no sense, but it happened.

I agree that the waitress was almost certainly not arrested. However, it is common practice for uniformed officers to issue the citation so as to make an impression on the manager/owner.

Although the liquor laws in Utah are stupid, a server would not be arrested for this. (Unless this is a new law passed since 2008.)

There's a newsletter that goes out to Utah county bars/restaurants stating who has violations, What kind of/how long the punishment lasts, and even the servers'/bartenders' names who performed the violation.

As far as I know, the law in Utah still states you cannot drink in a restaurant unless you order food. The DABC is known for some absolutely ridiculous and shady actions, but they don't arrest on the spot. Bar/restaurant owners can also contest the violation.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/25/2013 11:45PM by Itzpapalotl.