Three Pendleton convenience stores found out the consequences of selling booze to minors.

The Pendleton Police Department and the Oregon Liquor Control Commission teamed Tuesday night to work a “minor decoy operation” on 20 Pendleton businesses that sell alcohol. Most complied with the law and refused to sell alcohol to minors, but employees at Bare Bones, Southgate Mini Market and Pendleton Market sold the alcohol.

City police cited an employee at each business for providing alcohol to a minor, a Class A misdemeanor, while the OLCC cited the businesses for administrative violations that could cost them a $1,650 fine or a 10-day suspension from selling alcohol.

This was the first joint operation between the city police and the OLCC.

Jim Marquardt, inspector with the OLCC office in Pendleton, said these operations use real minors who are unpaid volunteers. The minors use their own state identification or driver’s license. This particular operation dealt with businesses that have an off-premises alcohol license.

For the businesses that failed, the OLCC issued an “administrative notice of violation ticket” that allows the business a few options, Marquardt said.

First, the business can pay the $1,650 fine or take the 10-day suspension. But if the business takes responsibility within 15 days, the OLCC can reduce the fine to $900 or the suspension to seven days. If the business is a member of the OLCC’s responsible vendor program, the state agency can reduce the fine to $493 or to a four-day suspension.

Pendleton Police Lt. Mark Swanson said two city officers participated in the mission. He said the department received a $15,000, two-year grant in 2008 from the OLCC to combat underage drinking. The grant pays for officer training and overtime, as well as enforcement at events ranging from baseball games to school dances.

“It’s a totally enforcement project,” Swanson said that focused on educating the public and keeping alcohol away from minors.

This is the same type of grant the Hermiston Police Department received last year.

The department next will conduct a “shoulder tap” operation. Swanson explained a minor decoy will wait outside establishments and ask adults going in to buy them alcohol. If an adult buys for the minor, police will make an arrest for furnishing alcohol to minors, Swanson said.

OLCC and the Pendleton Police Department will conduct more joint operations in the future, and Pendleton police will handle its own minor decoy checks and forward the results to the OLCC, Swanson said.

Marquardt said business that are interested in joining the OLCC’s responsible vendor program can contact the local office.