From Deseret News archives:

Bar owners feeling sting of DUI laws

Published: Saturday, July 20, 2002 8:18 p.m. MDT
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Still, looking closely at the details of these cases and possibly forwarding information to the DABC for action against a business license are the first steps in more aggressive attention to this part of the DUI problem.

The DABC is not a law enforcer, Earl Dorius, licensing and compliance manager for the department, has said. State licensing rules state clearly that a business can't sell to an intoxicated person. A license to do business can be suspended or revoked if that happens.

But until now, the agency had never suspended or revoked a business license or issued a fine after a DUI accident that injured or killed someone.

This bothers advocates for tighter DUI enforcement in all arenas.

"We need to have rigorous enforcement and also rigorous prosecution so that the licenses of bars are revoked when their actions result in a death," said Art Brown, president of the Utah chapter of Mothers Against Drunken Driving.

And it is just this kind of enforcement advancement that some national research shows to be beneficial. A study published in the most recent issue of Advances by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation suggests that cities "consider greater restrictions on alcohol accessibility and disciplinary measures for alcohol outlets that violate beverage laws."


Story continues below
Question: Do you have a recollection of anything you did in the last hour before you left the bar?

Upwall: No.

Question: Do you have a recollection of your level of control in terms of how well you could walk or talk or how much . . . you were impaired by alcohol at the time you left the bar?

Upwall: No, I don't.

Question: So, if someone testified that Paul Upwall was drunk as a skunk as he left the bar, you could not dispute it?

Upwall: I could not.

Question: If the bouncer of the bar, an employee to the bar, described you as having bloodshot eyes, a strong odor of alcohol on your breath, a little bit of a sway, that you were obviously, to him, under the influence of alcohol, is there any way you could dispute that?

Upwall: No.

— From court record of a deposition of Paul Upwall gathered as part of the dram shop case filed by the family of Christopher Oseguera.


E-MAIL: lucy@desnews.com

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Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News

Liquid Joe's in Salt Lake County is closed due to alcohol violations.

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