Casper Mayor Bruce Knell Calls for ‘Zero Tolerance’ When it Comes to Serving Alcohol to Minors
On Tuesday, the Casper City Council renewed all liquor licenses for the Casper businesses who have them. But there were some caveats.
One of those came from Casper Mayor Bruce Knell, in regards to establishments that had served alcohol to minors.
"The press so eloquently took out of context what was said last week, which is just so absolutely irritating to me," Mayor Knell said. "The point I was trying to make, which I wish they would have picked up on, and what I'd like to see this council start moving towards, is stopping the renewal of licenses to establishments who repeatedly violate by selling alcohol to minors.
Mayor Knell continued, stating that "It is not difficult to look at a driver's license. It is not difficult to see how old somebody is. We're literally walking in, handing licenses that show they're twenty years old and we're still serving them. Now, whether we're not teaching our employees good to understand what that date actually means is beyond me, but I would really like to see us get to zero tolerance when it comes to serving minors. So I'm gonna be taking a really hard look next year at these numbers and the repeat offenders are gonna have a really hard time getting renewed. By me at least."
Following his comments, the Council voted to renew the liquor licenses for the businesses who have them.
All council members voted yes, except for Councilor Amber Pollock, who abstained from voting due to her ownership of Backwards Distilling Company.
The Casper City Council Meeting can be seen below: