Passing compliance checks were the Salty Dawg, Homer Liquor, Down East Saloon, Uncle Thirsty's, The Alibi, the Grog Shop, Inlet View Lodge, Ninilchik, Happy Valley Bar, Happy Valley, and the Anchor River Inn, Anchor Point. Last February, in a similar compliance check, six stores or bars out of 20 investigated failed compliance checks.

'They did significantly better than the first time in February,' said Investigator Joe Hamilton of the Alaska State Troopers Bureau of Alcohol and Drug Enforcement.

The Beluga Lake Lodge in Homer failed a compliance check, troopers said. A summons was issued against Teresa Weston, 44, for furnishing alcohol to a person under age 21 and allowing a person under age 21 to remain on licensed premises, Hamilton said.

Hamilton is assigned to the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, and runs checks statewide on liquor licensees. Paid undercover and underage agents work with Hamilton and attempt to buy liquor at bars and stores while he watches them from outside the store. Hamilton said the agents appear their age, and do not try to look older by wearing makeup or facial hair.

In the July investigation, a young man from the lower Kenai Peninsula was the undercover agent. He used the older style Alaska driver's license with a horizontal layout for under-21 drivers, but has an asterisk indicating the driver is under 21. Weston she did the incorrect math in calculating the agent's age, Hamilton said. Servers don't need to do math, he said.

'All they have to figure out is they were born before today's date in 1985,' Hamilton said.

Newer driver's licenses make it even easier. Drivers under 21 have information printed in a vertical layout. Above the driver's picture highlighted in red is the date the driver turns 21. For example, a man born Aug. 3, 1985, would have a note that reads 'under 21 until Aug. 3, 2006.' 'We're just trying to make it easier on clerks,' Hamilton said of the newer identification.

When doing compliance checks, if a server is alleged to have sold liquor to a person under 21, Hamilton serves a summons on the spot. The Alcoholic Beverage Board later sends a letter to the licensee asking how the bar or store will address the issue, such as retraining servers. A licensee who serves alcohol to a person under 21 can have a license suspended.

Stores or bars that pass checks get a letter sent to the licensee, and if he can identify the server, Hamilton gives credit to the person for complying. He said he sometimes overhears servers talk about the attempted undercover buy, saying things like, 'I can't believe that 15-year-old kid came in here trying to buy alcohol.'

Servers can seize identification from people under 21 who try to buy alcohol. Civil law allows liquor stores or bars to sue people who try to buy alcohol illegally, and identification can be taken for evidence. Servers also can seize fake IDs. In both cases, police or troopers should be called. In the latest investigation, a Soldotna bar owner cut up the agent's ID in front of Hamilton. Hamilton charged him with fifth-degree criminal mischief for destroying the agent's property.

Hamilton and the undercover agent also did compliance checks on other Kenai Peninsula bars and stores. He said while on the lower Kenai Peninsula compliance has been good, statewide the failure rate is going up. Michael Armstrong can be reached at michael.armstrong@homernews.com.