A fine day for Westroad Liquor

Liquor store facing fourth charge for allegedly selling alcohol to minor

Westroad Liquor Mart owner James Reed was blasted with a $1500 fine Tuesday by the Liquor Control Commission for selling alcohol to minors the third fine Reed’s business has racked up for the offense.

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In a prepared statement at a meeting of the Liquor Control Commission, City Manager Jeff Doherty said Reed was previously fined $250 for an Oct. 19 offense and $500 for one that occurred on Nov. 27. Westroad was busted on Jan. 25 for the third time when it failed a compliance check conducted by the Illinois State Police. Minors working undercover successfully purchased liquor from the establishment.

Illinois State Police Sgt. Mike Hooks said Westroad’s legal troubles are not over yet as the establishment will face an additional charge for a fourth offense that police learned about while investigating the third.

Charles H. Weyhenmeyer, 23, was arrested for allegedly selling alcohol to a minor on Jan. 25, the same night as the third offense. Hooks said Weyhenmeyer was charged on Feb. 14 after police learned about the offense. Hooks would not comment on the circumstances of the arrest except to say that it was not related to compliance checks.

So the Carbondale City Council, acting as the Liquor Control Commission, will be forced to sanction Westroad again if the charge sticks. Hooks said Westroad joined the prestigious company of only one other liquor store in Illinois to fail three separate compliance checks.

City Attorney Paige Reed would not comment about Westroad’s fourth offense at the meeting because the case is still pending prosecution.

Gene Gross, the lawyer representing Westroad Liquor owner James Reed, accepted the Commission’s fine Tuesday night. Neither Gross nor Reed would comment about the $1500 fine after the meeting.

Hooks said the police began targeting liquor stores for compliance checks last October when alcohol-related injury car crashes involving teenagers increased astronomically in Jackson County.

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The program, Alcohol Counter Enforcement, caught 11 stores in Carbondale and Murphysboro that didn’t card minors that attempted to purchase alcohol. Since the initial wave of compliance checks, other stores have addressed the problem. Westroad is the only local liquor store to fail each compliance check.

By checking compliance, we’re trying to force clerks and bartenders to check ID properly, Hooks said. Many are checking the IDs but just not doing the math or ignoring it.