Liquor store's not-so-excellent adventure

I remember when Lee Swanson was Morris mayor and he explained why the city was in the liquor business. It was so "we can control it," he said.

Alcohol is a sensitive element in our lives. We have a hard time living with it, but apparently we can't live without it.

Thus we have a municipal liquor store under the umbrella of the city.

The city council met recently to discuss some turbulence that has come the way of our liquor store. It's unfortunate the topic bubbled up at a meeting held as a civics lesson for MAHS young people. The students got a lesson on how booze is very much a reality "out there."

All wasn't happy. The liquor store has stumbled in surviving those pesky "compliance checks." I would suggest this term is a euphemism for "stings."

It's not a technique that I feel comfortable with. It uses deceit. It depends on people role-playing, who in fact are not what they claim to be. They claim to be normal customers. But they are performers who are would-be underage purchasers of alcohol.

Stings can be a delicate area for law enforcement. The liquor sale checks are a more innocuous form of this. At a more intense level, judges are vigilant in seeing that "entrapment" doesn't occur.

The local compliance checks are more like a gadfly.

I feel sorry for the clerks who have to be on their toes about this. I'm sure they have no intent to ever sell to an underage person.

I would guess it's easier to spot a "real" illegal purchaser as opposed to a compliance check puppet. The latter have nothing to fear. They no doubt strive to look poised and relaxed.

It isn't hard to look poised and relaxed if you know you won't get in trouble. The performer in a sting is just pretending to do something improper. It's deceit with a small "d."

But there is so much on the line for those on the other end, for the clerks and in the currently uncomfortable situation, the City of Morris.

The city, which is all of us, is sitting on pins and needles.

The complete picture was never easily available from the start. There's a lesson here in not relying on the old media. In order to get a complete picture of what happened, I went online to the city manager's blog. It elucidated nicely.

Background: Our liquor store has gotten nailed twice. Call it strike one and then strike two.

A person has been fired. A higher-ranking person has not. In the eyes of some, that's unfair.

A check of the facts brings a more nuanced picture.

The old media have not taken the lead in giving us that big picture. We might dismiss that as mere negligence, but now a citizen writing a letter to the editor has stirred things up.

That's not necessarily bad, but when you read the city manager's blog you'll see the city's position is a little more sympathetic than you might think. And you might be less inclined to side with a city council member who appears to be trying to come across as a populist hero in all this.

It's true that the liquor store manager did make the first sale that got the city in trouble. But he did card the individual in question. The problem is that he misread the card.

It's a mistake but it's not complete negligence.

The city's second failure was more a case of negligence.

Now the city is backed up against the wall with the spectre of "strike 3" looming. It must be a nervous atmosphere. It has to be, because money is at stake.

It's too bad the background shared on the city manager's blog wasn't shared on a broad scale immediately. There would be less controversy. Discomfort yes, but not controversy.

Now we have a letter to the editor in the old media perhaps getting people excited. In the old days a rebuttal to the letter could be shared on Wednesday. But the print media here has been pared down to once a week.

Online you can leap into action immediately to get your point across. Since the online world is a rigid meritocracy, the facts and the credible views rise to the top and less credible stuff falls or is deleted.

The city manager is to be commended getting his background shared via his blog. But too many people in Morris continue to be reliant on the old media.

However this is all sorted out, it's unfortunate the controversy was laid out for the MAHS students in their civics lesson.

How much more pleasant it would be for the council to be discussing our library's 125th anniversary. How much more pleasant, rather than to discuss the firing of someone, to discuss the possibility of retaining a CEP employee at the library, name of Lisa.

I hope the fine connected to the liquor store's punishment doesn't impede that, or any other good measure that might be taken, like tearing down the old school. There's another huge topic. It's more of a nuisance property with each passing year.

It's unfortunate the liquor store came to the fore in such an unpleasant and distracting way, not due to anyone's true wrongdoing, but a "compliance check."

People "around town" share views and it's not always totally fact-based. Really?

There's a moral of the story I could share with City Manager Blaine Hill: Empower yourself using the new media to the totally optimal extent.

The online world is way past being a curiosity. It's becoming bedrock. Don't be left behind.

The old media don't share your agenda or priorities. The old media don't feel a need to treat the City of Morris with tender loving care.

The old media need to sell advertising. They get grumpy as this gets harder.

A letter to the editor can become a gadfly. If that's all it is, the city might actually be lucky.

Now the city needs to move forward with a sense of order, prudence and clarity.

And let's celebrate the Morris Public Library's anniversary with some real gusto. Mr. Hill, please try to keep Lisa on board there.

Addendum:

Maybe the city should be prepared to use the "Teen Wolf" defense. Remember the Michael J. Fox movie of that name?

Remember the Fox character having to obtain some liquor but being underage? Remember him in the liquor store being the object of a glare from the stern and elderly clerk?

And remember how the clerk suddenly became mesmerized by a reddish glow emanating from the Fox character's eyes as he showed his werewolf qualities?

Yes, that's it. The city could employ the "Teen Wolf" defense.

- Brian Williams - morris mn Minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com