Bar owners warn Wildwoods underage drinkers: Don't

NORTH WILDWOOD, N.J. - In this fabled party town by the sea, bar owners and law enforcement officials gathered in the week before the unofficial start of summer to send a clear message to underage drinkers: Don't even think about it.

Outside the popular Westy's Irish pub yesterday, they vowed zero tolerance and a more stringent plan than ever before to curtail underage drinkers' use of fake identification to be served alcohol.

"We need to put a stop to this and make people aware there is a high price to pay, all around, if they get caught," said Scott Keenan, a partner in Keenan's Irish Pub.

Last summer, the New Jersey Division of Alcohol Beverage Control fined Keenan's $330,000 and closed it for 80 days for allowing two underaged drinkers into the bar. Keenan estimated his total loss at more than $750,000, with lawyers' fees and lost business during the Irish festival in September.

He said nearly 100,000 people come through his doors every summer, and his workers confiscate hundreds of fake IDs.

North Wildwood and neighboring Wildwood and Wildwood Crest - populated with bars and other establishments that serve alcohol - have long held the reputation as party central of the southern Jersey Shore. Visiting the Wildwoods for spring break, senior week, after-prom and the summer season has been a generational right of passage almost since the 1950s.

"We've had enough, which is why we are banding together to show the seriousness of our intent to warn underage drinkers, their parents and siblings, that we will go after them to the fullest extent provided by law," said Jack Keenan, another Keenan's owner and president of the North Wildwood Tavern Owners Association.

As fake ID has become more sophisticated, so has the effort to combat it. Most of the bars catering to a younger crowd now own $2,500 hand-held devices that work like a small credit card scanner. They run an ID card's magnetic strip to check for authenticity. The machine also provides information about the individual with which the person checking the ID may quiz the presenter.

"We are sending a clear message to law enforcement and [Alcohol Beverage Control] that we want to work in partnership with them to put an end to this dangerous and unwanted Jersey Shore tradition," Jack Keenan said.

Besides completely false IDs, those passed from a sibling or relative of legal age to a younger, illegal-to-drink brother or sister also are a big headache for tavern owners.

"That is where a trained and vigilant staff is an important tool," said Mike Marsh, president of the New Jersey Tavern Owners Association.

The punishment for underage drinking in New Jersey includes the mandatory loss of a driver's license for up to six months, a $1,250 fine or mandatory jail time, compulsory participation in an alcohol education or treatment program, and the mandatory reporting of conviction on all legal documents, including student loan applications. Conviction also means a permanent criminal record.

"When parents understand that, there is a completely different view of the idea of harmlessly coming to the Shore and partying," North Wildwood Mayor Bill Henfey said.