During a special called meeting on Monday the East Ridge Beer Board fined Mack’s Highway Market $500 for selling beer to a minor.

Attorney Lloyd Levitt, representing business owner Sreenu Pamidi, pointed out to the beer board members that a section of the city’s beer ordinance provides for a civil penalty in lieu of suspending or revoking a businesses beer license. 

“It’s totally discretionary,” Levitt said. “It would be a fair resolution.”

The board agreed and unanimously voted to assess a fine instead of opting to suspend the businesses license to sell beer for a period of time. The last violation of the beer ordinance by Mack’s employees was in 2013, it was noted.

Hamilton County Sheriff’s Deputy Marty Ray told the board that on March 16 an underage male buyer working with authorities on a “sting” entered the store on Ringgold Road in the early afternoon. The buyer told Deputy Ray that the clerk never asked for any identification. An East Ridge officer was called to the scene and a citation was issued to the clerk for selling to an underage individual. The criminal charge was dismissed in East Ridge Municipal Court, officials said.

It was noted that the clerk was the only employee in the store at the time and that he was talking on his phone to his wife who had recently been hospitalized. 

Pamidi told board members that he has sent his employees for special training and that he recently purchased new point of sale hardware that requires a person purchasing alcohol to have their ID entered into the system.