Tuesday, May 6, 2008; Posted 2.25 pm (CDT)

Studies show four out of five high schoolers admit to trying alcohol, and about 4,000 Oklahomans under the age of 21 are arrested for drinking each year. Communities and officials say they are tired of hearing about the issue and the loss of life from it, so they're going out to catch those providing the alcohol.

Underage kids are going from shop to shop to buy alcohol with the go-ahead from law enforcement, but they're doing it to see just who is violating the law.

"We're trying to stop access of it," says Deputy Lance McWorter from the Oklahoma County Sheriff's Department. "We're trying to curb some of these crashes that are related to alcohol, deaths related to alcohol especially in our teens."

"This is a main part in our generation," says Michael Davis, a member of Project Ignition. "People are buying beer and clerks of stores are actually letting them."

Groups like 2Much2Lose and Project Ignition are putting liquor stores, gas stations and even large corporations to the test and sending an important message.

"If you're selling alcohol to a minor, it is unacceptable," says McWorter. "You could ultimately be responsible for some kid buying alcohol in your store and possibly dying."

Many of the stores visited did follow the law and made sure to ask for ID, but that wasn't the case for every store.

"According to our underage decoy, they went in and the clerk told them the price, was ready to bag it and realized something was amiss," says Travis Boyd with Wichita Mountains Prevention Network in Lawton. "She walked out before he could ask for ID, but he started ringing it up and so forth. He did not ask for ID."

Lucky for store owners, these compliance checks are only to warn and inform those breaking the law.

"We did our little training citation for the 2M2L program, stated that he had failed to check for ID, provided him with 2M2L information and then came back outside," says Boyd.

Next time, though, the penalties for store owners and underage drinkers could be much more severe.

"The store owners, the youth, they all have too much to lose if youth are drinking," says Boyd.

If store owners are caught selling low-point beer to someone under 21, that's a misdemeanor. The maximum fine is $500 and a maximum of one year in county jail. For alcoholic beverages, that's a felony. The fine is $2,500 to $5,000 with a maximum one-year sentence in the state penitentiary. Their liquor license could also be canceled. The penalties, of course, increase for subsequent offenses.

Resources:

www.2much2lose.com/

www.sfprojectignition.com